Soul Jam
by Souliel
Summary: "Never. Again." The scythe meister could only nod faintly in agreement as her weapon's cackle and the sound of a high-five rang through the air. 50 themes. T for safety. Canon, AU and ALL pairings should be expected. Slash Warning. Character Death Warning.
1. Theme 10: Breathe Again

**I'm doing on of those 100 themes thingies! But, not officially I guess, because I just copied someone else's list. But I hope you enjoy this! Tell me if I make any mistakes please! (I'm infamous for definitely = defiantly)**

Title: Collision

Universe: Canon

Characters: Tsubaki/Black*Star

Words estimate: 1, 300

Tsubaki came to a soft stop in front of a set of humongous steps and let out the breath she'd been holding in a futile attempt to calm her racing heart.

This was it, the big day she -or her family, really- had been waiting for. Sounds of the hundreds of meisters and fellow weapons drifted down at her from the courtyard high above where the large crowd waited to be allowed entrance into the building, their voices sounded eager, full of promises to Lord Death and to each other.

None shared her dread.

Tsubaki was in the midst of letting out another deep breath when the air was knocked out of her completely when someone, who'd apparently been running full out, collided painfully with her back and caused them both to tumble to the ground.

"Ah, crap. The great me's definitely late now." The voice sounded frantically from above her and Tsubaki got a brief impression of blue hair and black cloth before the boy was gone without a hint of an apology.

For a moment all she did was sit and stare at the sky, it felt like all her apprehension had been knocked out of her along with her breathing ability.

She didn't mind that he didn't apologize, Tsubaki thought as she slowly got to her feet, but he should have at least helped her back up. She sighed when she saw the dirt stains on her clothes and the shallow scratches now covering her shiny new weapons badge she'd gotten along with her invitation to the school, but let it go easily. It'd be a miracle if she ever got a partner anyway. No one would want to be with someone like her day-in and day-out.

It was as her brother had said, Tsubaki though as she began to climb the stairs unconsciously, three weeks before when he had left for the final time.

It'd been because he heard their parents talked about her acceptance into the academy.

_"She's not even a good fighter! Why would anyone **ever** want her?"_

Tsubaki kept her head down and ignored the growing volume of the shouts ahead. In her brother's defense, they had not known she'd been listening. Her usual bedtime had been hours past.

_"Son, do not talk about your sister like that. The fact that she inherit-"_

_"I do not want to here about that, father."_

She'd crouched beside the kitchen's paper screen door for hours listening to them go back and forth, though it wasn't all about her. Apparently Masamune had been holding this all in for far to long.

_"If you cannot appreciate the place and abilities that you **do** have, then go make yourself stronger! Do not sit here in my house and complain!" her father seethed._

_Tsubaki felt the cold air on her damp face when she gasped and the cramping in her legs became apparent as she tried to scramble out of the way of the heavy footsteps coming toward the door, but in spite of her attempt, she still locked gazes with her brother when he slammed open the fragile screen._

_He didn't say a word and only paused for a moment, but the cold on his face spoke volumes._

_Tsubaki fled back to her room after he was gone, she didn't see -didn't want to see- her father fall into a chair with his hands over his face in defeat._

The next morning her mother had come into her room saying feebly that her brother had gone on a long training trip and that it wasn't Tsubaki's fault… holding a plane ticket and an envelope full of money in her limp hands.

She'd been sent three weeks early and still managed to nearly arrive late, Tsubaki smiled bitterly as she reached the top of the steps and melded into the crowd on top.

She began to get offers surprisingly fast, too fast really for comfort.

A determined looking blonde with her hair up in pigtails who smiled politely, but left with a frown when her "Maka Albarn, are you a scythe?" was answered with a head-shake no.

An over-eager boy with fair hair and light blue eyes chatted animatedly at her for a few minutes, before admitting that he'd already failed resonating with eighteen different weapons. Tsubaki politely declined his request to try anyway.

And, though she looked, she never once caught sight of the strange blue-haired boy who'd literally bowled her over that morning until the introduction was done and the doors were finally opened into the Death Weapon Meister Academy.

"YAH-HOOOO! Sorry all of you small ones had to wait for the big me!" Everybody halted for a moment and most looked around in confusion for the owner of the voice. Tsubaki noticed the Maka girl scowling fiercely at being called 'small'.

"But, now the great Black*Star has arrived and your lives can be completed by basking in my glory!"

"Over there!" The blonde and blue eyed boy, Hiro, shouted helpfully over the continuous shouting and pointed to the roof.

Tsubaki and the rest of the crowd craned their heads and there he was, spiked blue hair and large, toothy grin beaming in the sun. She stood and stared long after the rest of the crown started to leave, -saying things like 'lunatic' or 'idiot' as responses to his performance- because the boy on the roof never seemed to care if they were there to see or not, he just kept shouting his praises to the laughing sun in the sky.

"Come now, let me hear you say it! Who's surpassing god now?" He raised his arm and pointed to the sky to emphasize his finale, then finally seemed to take in the empty courtyard.

Tsubaki watched and realized the same thing, she was the only one who had stayed for the whole thing.

When she turned back to the roof he was still up there with his finger skyward. She couldn't help it, she clapped for him. It seemed fitting.

Then he was suddenly in front of her, only fifteen feet away, looking quizzical.

"Th-That was amazing." She bumbled and blushed, hands still folded in front of her. Fifteen feet turned into five inches surprisingly fast.

"Yes, you are the first to see and appriciate the greatness in me! Good for you!" He grinned again and looked to the side, then back at her. "Now, tell me your name."

"Nakatsukasa Tsubaki, I'm a weapon." Tsubaki blushed again, her name sounded monotonous, a scentless flower, and he could clearly see the weapon tag pinned to her chest. In fact that was what he was looking at, she noticed.

"Those scratches…" He looked down at the dirt on her clothes and it seemed to confirm something for him. He grinned widely. "Looks like you already had a run-in with big ol' me! Did my greatness rub off?"

"Erm…" Tsubaki sputtered, though he didn't seem to need an answer since he immediately turned around and strode purposefully toward the entrance.

She drooped and looked at the ground as he left. For some reason, it felt like the sun was gone; though it still hung high in the sky.

"Are you coming?" She looked up, surprised, to find him once again only two feet away and holding out a hand. "Don't worry, Tsubaki I'll make you into the greatest Deathscythe worthy of a god like me faster than ever!"

Tsubaki blinked and then her hand was enfolded in his and she was being dragged toward the entrance with Black*Star chatting about how lucky she was. She smiled.

'_I think I already know, Black*Star.'_


	2. Theme 80: Words

**So short… I don't own Soul Eater. Thank you SoulandMaka4everGOANIME8D for being my first reviewer!**

Title: Words

Characters: Maka/Soul

Universe: Canon

Warning: Character Death

_Words._

Simple sounds or scribbles on paper that could describe the world. Maka was familiar with words, she read them often enough. Even if it wasn't as often as she'd like.

_Words can be used to build up people, tell their stories or of their tendencies. _

There are thousands of words Soul could use to describe his partner.

Smart, athletic, strong, and he thought, watching her look over at Chrona for the umpteenth time to make sure the demon sword wasn't too scared of the particularly gruesome dissection Stein was hosting, a bit to caring.

_Words can be used to tear people up as well._

Maka's feet stuttered back until they hit the wooden legs of a school chair, one of many in the empty classroom, she sat heavily and gripped the bottom tightly with numb, gloved fingers.

"What?"

"It must have happened fast, she was traveling in South America and stumbled upon a society of witches. Our Deathscythe in command there was to late to do anything…"

The women continued to list the details and reasons, but words had lost their meaning for Maka.

The only thing holding her down now was Soul's hand on her shoulder and the gentle pressure of his soul twined with hers. _Mama… _

_Words can't fix everything._


	3. Theme 52: Deep in Thought

**I don't own Soul Eater. Sorry for how… er, jagged this writing is. But, I was trying to write a jagged character. **

Title: Lying is A Virtue

Character: Raganarok/Chrona/Maka

Universe: Canon

Warnings: Bad language, slight yuri, lack of a real plot

I don't have memories of my life before pinky, and I don't really have ANY good -or happy, you could say- memories at all of the blonde, the bitchy, and the witchy. I'm still here with pinky, so no comment.

I don't know if I can't remember because I'm not now who I was then, or if there never was a then.

But, I don't really care so it doesn't matter.

The pink bitch, says she can't remember either, when I bully it out of her. Anything about who I might have been is known only by Medusa, and according to pigtails plus the stupid reaper, she's gone now. I don't believe it. The women's too sticky to die that easily. Pinky's happy about it though.

But, I don't care about her or what she thinks.

Growling at my own thoughts, I take a whack at her head, which I still clung to with one arm and pulled her hair to prove my point. Not that she knew the point, but that didn't matter either. It never does to me. She takes it with barely a whimper and doesn't ask any questions, just curls farther into the corner and somehow manages to make herself look even smaller. Chrona is really good at making herself small. I help by eating half her meals. She can't complain, its what she wants.

She'll complain anyway, though, its another thing she's good at.

But she won't stand up for herself, one time is a fluke. I sometimes wish that I had a backbone. She asks why and I hit her for listening to me think aloud, she's whines about it now. Whining isn't having a backbone. Its bending in the wind like a puny twig. Chrona even looks like a twig.

But, of course, I don't care what the stupid ugly bitch looks like.

I'm bored, Chrona's bored too, I can tell. The big door's been locked ever since pigtails left. The reaper hadn't even bothered to come down to our 'room'. He'd just popped up in the mirror and scared the shit outa Chrona. I'd've laughed, but I was the only one allowed to scare Chrona, so I bitched him out instead.

He left, _then_ I laughed. Chrona says she doesn't like the reaper, says he's scary. I say I don't care.

And I don't.

She asks when do I think Maka will be back and I say never. Just to get to her. I like getting to Chrona, so I say that the reason they locked you so far down in the place is so that they won't hear you scream and beg as you die, and the reaper's gonna watch it all through his magic mirror.

I know this probably isn't true, and if it was, we'd get out and get their souls anyway. But Chrona doesn't think, she starts trembling and crying and I laugh at her.

Stupid, if you really think that's true than your dumber than you look; I say when she keeps at it. It stops her and she cranes to look at me, asking do I really think so. I don't like it when she looks at me, so I push her nose down and grunt in response. I didn't say it to make her feel better, though she does, I said it to shut her up.

I don't _care _how she feels.

I realize, when pigtails comes back and the black blood warms in a way that's new to both of us; and the gut I don't have twists in an uncomfortable way at the happiness coursing through my meisters veins that could never, _ever_ be because of a monster like me, that I say that way to often.

But, I. Don't. _Care._


	4. Theme 33: Expectations

**I doubt that this is really needed for every chapter, so let's just assume, from this chapter on, that I do not own Soul Eater and if it does happen to come into my possession… you will be informed promptly. Promise.**

**Thank you to Kountry101 for reviewing and thank you others for the story alerts. It is appreciated. *grin***

Title: What it Seems

Universe: Canon

Characters: Soul/Kid

Warning: Yaoi, my first try. So probably not even good yaoi.

…

"Soul."

The weapon paused and, with a brief glance back, waved for his meister to go on without him. Kid didn't need to do the same; Liz and Patti were long gone. The elder had muttered something and grabbed her giggling sister, who had grabbed a surprised Tsubaki, who had grabbed a protesting Black*Star and dragged them all out the door the moment the bell had rang.

Soul turned once the doors had closed on Maka and the rest of the class, idly wondering what the shinigami wanted and had to stutter backward when the other boy turned out to be closer than he expected, _much _closer Soul noticed as molten gold fixed him with a heated look.

"Soul." Kid said again, almost whimpering, and stepped foreword to close the gap between them the scythe had made. The weapon stayed where he was, he head was spinning too badly to consider doing otherwise. 'Kid smells nice' is all his foggy brain seemed to be able to manage at the moment.

"Yeah, K-kid?" Maybe the shinigami would just say what he wanted and go away so Soul could start functioning again.

The feeble hope was crushed when Kid stepped closer again instead, nearly pressing them together. Soul felt the young reaper's cool breath ghost across his lips as he repeated the weapon's name a third time.

"_Soul_." It was definitely a moan now. Soul repressed one of his own and felt his resolve waver when Kid's fingers buried themselves in his snowy hair, the shorter boy pushing them together and circling his arms around Soul's neck to do so.

"Your hair is so un-symmetrical today." Kid stated calmly and began to move his locks around and straiten his hair.

"Wait, what?"

…

Thirty seconds later, Kid stood alone and watched the leather clad figure stomp away -blushing and muttering- and fingered the bright red handprint decorating one side of his face, wondering at the strange sense of disappointment he felt in his chest.

The asymmetry of it never even crossed his mind.

**That's how I think it would be. The moment Kid forgets the symmetry is the moment you'll know he's in love. *wink***


	5. Theme 60: Rejection

"No."

"What?" The boy's mouth drooped in disbelief, he reached out feebly to grip her sleeve, but she pulled it away before he could.

"I said, no." His fists clenched on empty air as her fierce gaze met his and the complete rejection was spelled out clearly in her expression. He felt despair begin to slowly twist, snake-like, in his chest.

"I-I thought you loved me?" He whimpered, tears now threatening to run down his crushed face.

"Who _ever_ said I loved _you_?" She scoffed, looking away from his trembling form, disgusted.

"B-but-"

"No buts. What kind of man are you?" She turned back and scowled.

"Just one-"

"Don't beg, you idiot."

"One more… please…"

Maka growled and snatched his hand away from where it'd been pathetically stretching out toward the tiny cart parked on the other side of the playground.

"No, Raggy! You've already had _six_ ice-cream cones today! That's more than me _and_ Chrona _together_!"

The twelve-year old then proceeded to drag the horrified toddler away toward the sand-box where his older sister waited, giggling quietly, shaking her head at how annoying seven-year olds could be.

...

**Ha, I waited to put this at the end so it wouldn't give the characters away. Did you guess? **

Title: I Scream for Ice Cream

Universe: Alternate

Characters: Raganarok/Maka/Chrona

Warnings: Human!Raganarok, and the use of pet-names.


	6. Theme 29: Happiness

**This is for the holidays! Merry Chrismas! I couldn't find a holiday-theme. So, I'm putting these all under happiness. Enjoy!**

Title:Christmas

Character: Lots

Universe: Canon

...

"W-what's t-that?"

"They're called Christmas carols." Maka giggled. Chrona made an awed sound and listened to the jingle pouring over the many shoppers from the mall's plethora of speakers. The three, including Soul, who was currently buried under packages and shopping bags, were out buying presents for everyone.

Chrona was surprised at how much fun she was having, and it was made even better by the fact that Raganarok hated holidays and refused to come out.

"Oh! I know this one!" Maka exclaimed happily as a new song started.

"Santa baby, slip a sable under the tree, for me~!"

Chrona smiled shyly as her best friend began singing the lines to the song perfectly, along with the instrumental music dancing through the air, and tried to ignore the many stares they were beginning to get.

"W-what's a sable?" She dropped back to Soul. He sighed and peered around the gifts in his arms.

"No clue."

"Santa baby, now hurry down the chimney tonight~!"

…

"It's your turn."

"No its-"

"Souuuul." Said weapon sighed, exasperated, and got up. He was a sucker for the puppy-face and she knew it. Maka yipped in triumph and peered around the wall to watch him go.

"Remember the marshmallows!"

"Yeah, yeah…" Soul huffed and took his wool coat and a scarf off of their hook, then pulled open the door. And stopped.

"Kid! Why didn't you knock!"

The shinigami stood ankle deep in snow, with about an inch of the stuff covering his shoulders and head as well, and had his arms clutched around his sides shivering violently.

"Y-your C-c-Christmas wreath! I-I-it was s-so s-s-symmetrical!

…

Liz jerked her head up with a growl and pressed her back harder against the frozen brick behind her. She couldn't sleep. If she did, those damn bastards might come back…

She banged her head against the alley's wall with a groan as her eyelids began to droop again.

It was the same every year around Christmas.

People would come, with their fancy suits and cars, saying that the twelve-year-old didn't understand. That she didn't know what she was doing.

They said she was putting her sister in danger. By not giving her up, that is.

Liz wasn't stupid, Patti was hers. Her sister, all she had. Everything. She wasn't going to hand her over to _anyone._

She groaned again and adjusted her legs so that the figure curled up on them was still completely protected from the cold ground. She had to smile, however, when Patti giggled and turned onto her back, muttering "Giraffe" with a goofy grin.

No, this was never going away. No matter how much easier it'd be.

…

"There! Now our godly tree is complete! Yah-hooo!"

Tsubaki giggled.

"And how long are you planning on staying up there?"

…

"A real tree?"

"Yep! I want one! This place needs it!"

"Ornaments?"

"Of course!"

"Marie?"

"What?"

"We're in Nevada."

…

"What do you think~?" Spirit felt his jaw drop, and gaped openly at the completely redecorated Death Room before him.

"It's very… er… festive?"

"That's what I thought~!"

…

"Well then! I'll be off!"

"To where?"

"My Christmas break!"

"Eruka." The frog witch halted mid-hop.

"Yes?"

"There are no Christmas breaks for henchmen."

"Geko."


	7. Theme 5: Seeking Solace

**This is entirely Blair-centric, and really long, so if you don't like her, you don't have to read it. Technically each of them could stand alone, but I'm putting them together. It's kinda sad at the end too… just warning. Suffix Guide will be at the very end.**

Title: A Cat's Life

Characters: Blair/Maka/Soul/the others

Universe: Canon going into future

Warning: Use of suffixes/honorifics, Character death

…

Blair hadn't always known she was lucky.

Fro instance, she never felt lucky, or happy at all, living alone in the pumpkin. But she did when that strange, funny boy and his even funnier partner burst into her life with blades wielded, literally.

It was hilarious how they thought she was a witch, silly kids. She was sad when they left.

Then they came back, the looks on their faces when she spotted them ridiculously hiding behind that tree were priceless. Then they left again.

But, she wasn't sad. They'd come back.

And they did.

She was really surprised when the boy actually agreed to go with her. It wasn't right, a little voice meowed in her head, they've gotta stay together.

Then it made sense again when the cold blade was around her, and she felt the brief tear as one of her lives ripped away. They were still so silly, she couldn't get mad. Cats never really do.

Now she wanted them, company was like a drug after being alone so long… So Blair followed.

…

"Here." The cat looked up, surprised, as the window sill she had been perched on precariously suddenly became wider as said window was opened from the inside. "If your going to stay…" The small blonde girl huffed and looked away. "You might as well stay inside." She finished in a mutter and left the window open as she walked away.

Blair give her a Cheshire grin and hopped neatly, without a sound down onto the carpet.

"If you need some where to sleep…" Maka trailed off as she turned back around. The cat had apparently decided the arrangement already, as she kneaded the comforter, turned around three times, and promptly plopped down at the foot of the miester's bed.

When the blonde couldn't help giggling, the cat opened one golden eye and smiled. This _was _better.

…

It was to Soul's credit that he didn't question the fact that there was a purple cat eating from a bowl and sitting on the counter the next morning, though Maka gave him a sharp look when she saw his smirk.

"Knew you'd let her in." He whispered when they'd sat down.

"Shut up."

"You're a sucker for lonely souls."

"I said, shut up."

Blair perked her pointed ears up and stood to watch them argue further in whispers, hearing every word.

_Lonely soul… huh._

…

It was funny, the cat mused, to wake up Soul. And, as always, even funnier to wake up Maka first.

"Maakaaa." The blonde's nose twitched, tickled by whiskers, and she mumbled a little in her sleep.

"Maaaaakaaaaa." This time the nose-nudge was accompanied by a rumble-purr and a meow of laughter. "Tiiime to geet uuup."

"Five more minutes…" This response was usual, Blair snickered. And everyone thought Maka was never tardy on her _own_.

"Nope, you gotta get up now and make me some fish."

"Blair…"

"You might be la~ate."

"Fiiine." The purple feline jumped nimbly down to the floor as Maka sat up, rubbed her eyes, and got to her feet drowsily, before jumping back up and snuggling into the covers. This was the best part, after all, they were still warm all over and extra comfy just after Maka left.

She had ten minutes to cat-nap, then she'd go wake Soul. Blair giggled internally, this wake-up… would be much less gentle. The good ones were reserved for hands-that-feed-yous only. Everybody knew that.

…

"Sooooouuuuulluuuuuu! Wake-uuup!"

"Huhng? Blair!"

"Wanna hug?"

"Soul, you pervert!"

"Maka, wait-" CRASH!

"Blair, your fish is ready."

"Mmm-kay, nya~!"

…

Weekdays were the worst, Blair mused as she lounged in the tiny apartment, walked from room to room flipping forms, and even went as far as trying on some of their clothes to stave off the boredom.

Maka's were too small, though that was fixed easily enough, and Soul's tastes were just… weird…

The first time Maka came home to discover one of Blair's 'fashion shows', it should have been awkward, but, somehow, it wasn't.

"Just put them back when your done…" The blonde-haired girl did make a face, however, when she discovered the purple fur covering her favorite shirt the next day.

…

"Bu-tan wants to go to school too!"

"Don't refer to yourself like that. And no, you don't, your not the right age."

Both girls lay on the couch. Blair, in her cat form, sat on Maka's stomach and peered over the top of the book the younger girl was trying to read, pawing at the pages as they were turned.

It was the weekend and Maka was home for the whole day, but Soul had gone to play basketball with his boy-buds, so it was still too quiet in the house for Blair's taste.

"_I _could be a teacher!" She exclaimed and poofed into her human form, which was now scantily clad in a business skirt, less than half the length of a normal one, and a see-through white, button-up shirt. It was the goofy expression she threw in that made Maka laugh.

"I don't think Shinigami would allowed it." She giggled. Blair huffed dramatically, but had a smile on when she climbed back to her perch, fuzzy once more.

"He let your dad teach."

Maka rolled her eyes and dog-eared the page. She could clearly see that the cat wasn't going to let her read in peace before her questions were answered.

Blair moved with her as the meister sat up and scooted back, so that she was leaning against the side of the couch, and ended up in her lap. She sighed blissfully and curled up into a ball as Maka lay her hand on the cat's head and began to scratch around her ears.

"Believe it or not, Papa went to school for the whole five-years training, and graduated. So he's qualified. Barely." She added the last part in a mutter, but Blair heard anyway.

"I could start training!" The cat's voice was drowsy. The ear-scratch was a sure-fire way to begin a nice long cat-nap.

"Your not a weapon, or a meister, Bu-tan."

"'Thought you said not to say," she yawned "that…"

Maka giggled.

"It's okay is someone else says it, silly."

Blair was already asleep.

…

"Soul… why is the door unlocked?" Blair winced and resisted the urge to go peek, that was the voice…

"F-for Blair." Ahhh, Blair purred, Soul-kun was so brave.

"You know she comes in through my window! What if there'd been a robber!"

"Who'd want to rob this place? There's nothing worth taking!" Blair made a split-second decision and whisked away to the kitchen, from where she'd been hiding in the bathroom, before the fight escalated.

"What about you? What if robber-Blair stole you?" She purred from the doorway, attracting their attention. He scoffed.

"I'd get away." Blair blinked and smirked. Within a second, she was across the room with her arms wrapped loosely around a very surprised Maka.

"What about Maka-chan?" She asked innocently, tightening her grip. "What if I took her?"

Soul looked at Maka, held captive, and a dark expression shadowed his face for a moment before it was gone.

"Fine. I'll lock it next time."

Blair highly enjoyed the blushes and mutterings the two were forced to communicate with for the rest of the day.

…

The first time Blair met Chrona, it'd been an accident.

The black-blooded girl had come to the apartment complex trembling and looking for Maka. She had not been aware that someone else lived there. When the door opened, surprised gold met shocked indigo.

"Hello-nya?"

"Waah! W-who are y-you?"

"Blair-chan is Bu-tan."

"H-huh…? Blair… Bu?"

"Come on in!"

When Maka had returned home a half-hour later, the shy pinkette was actually petting Blair's ears while the cat chatted away about anything and everything.

Chrona had been smiling.

…

"It's Christmas time, Christmas time, Christmas -nya -nya -nya!" Blair sang happily and peered all around her excitedly. She was perched atop Soul's head and the trio were at the mall, so there was tons to see, smell, and hear.

"Blair, your getting some weird looks." Said cat blinked down at Maka.

"Why?"

"You're a singing cat."

"Oh… Then they're good looks, right-nyao?" The younger girl thought for a moment.

"Huh, I guess they're not _bad._"

"But, please, stop singing." One of Soul's shoulders twitched pleadingly.

…

"Ohhhwooowww!" Maka and Blair sighed in unison at the sight of their tree, finally standing. Soul huffed and got to his feet. If they'd wanted it up so much…

"You could've helped." He finished his thought in a mutter that both girls heard.

"Awww, Soul-kun, that's a man's job!" In seconds Blair was humanized and proceeded to suffocate the poor boy in her chest. Maka used a light Maka-chop to dislodge him.

"Don't complain." She stated to his unconscious form, then went to go get the ornaments.

…

Blair skipped happily down the hall, holding onto two cutely wrapped packages, toward the living room. She stopped outside the door, momentarily, then stopped completely when she heard voices.

"S-soul, I l-love you." Blair smiled softly and looked down at her gifts while he chuckled.

"I love you too, Maka."

She'd leave these in their rooms, because, from the noises inside, the two wouldn't want to be interrupted. Even for presents.

"Merry Christmas to me…"

…

The first time Blair had acquainted herself with the Shinigami trio, had not, contrasting with popular belief, been when they'd first come over to Soul and Maka's apartment.

"What's that Patti?"

"It's a cat, Kid." Liz had answered when all Patti did was laugh. Blair purred from atop the younger Thomson's hat. She liked this girl.

"Why.. It's perfectly symmetrical!"

"Thanks-nya!"

"Liz… do cats talk?"

"No…"

"Gehehehe!" Patti summed it up.

…

The first time she'd felt it, it'd been in the morning.

"Maka, is my fish done?"

"O-oh, sorry Blair." The cat took in the other girl's blush and ruffled appearance, plus the fact that she was exiting Soul's bedroom….

"Can you make-do with milk today?"

…And understood. The little wedge between them hurt, but Blair understood.

…

They'd been in the routine for nearly ten years the first time Blair woke up alone. She didn't even bother to go check, she knew where they'd be.

But it didn't lighten the dread.

Three would never be a crowd, right?

_Four could…_

…

Black*Star had been the least fun.

He'd nearly hit her with a thrown basketball, not that it was on purpose, but that was beside the point.

"Oi, bozo watch it!"

"Stupid cat you watch it!"

The shouting at the park escalated, until they were nearly blowing their lungs out. The assassin said he was too big to be yelled at by an animal. Blair said she was too.

He was about to start throwing trees and she was getting a good smashing pumpkin prepared, when Tsubaki arrived.

"Black*Star, don't do that! Kitty-chan, please forgive him." Neither could refuse those sparkly blue eyes.

Later, on the walk home, Tsubaki told Blair that she'd get used to the loud-mouthed boy.

What she got used to, was the weapon's cooking.

…

It was after the wedding, but before the house switch, that Maka gave Blair her own room.

"But-"

"You're a big girl, you deserve your own bed for once." The blonde had joked. Blair didn't say it, but she wanted too.

_I'm not a human Maka._

…

She left feeling down and desperate.

After twenty years, Blair was an old cat, she hadn't transformed for the last nine of them.

She'd never died of old age before, hadn't had the chance to during her first life, but she didn't like it.

She had to stick to the streets and she couldn't make out the objects over ten feet away, plus her brain felt fuzzy and the light purple on her tail and ears had turned silver. The gold in her eyes was cloudy.

…

Maka searched for hours with her husband, leaving their one-year old in the capable hands of Tsubaki.

They started from the house and run all over Death City calling their friends name into the cold night.

…

When they found the tiny dark violet kitten mewing and gurgling on the side walk, there was no mistaking the hat and bauble lying near-by.

Maka sobbed and held the fur ball tight to her chest during the long trek back to their house.

They named her Blair.

…

**-chan: For friends, usually girls.**

**-kun: For friends, usually boys.**

**-tan: A cutesy mispronunciation of -chan.**


	8. Theme 17: Blood

He guessed it was _his_ smile, that tiny expression of something that could go _beyond _the black blood, beyond the insanity that they both knew in side and out, that made _him_ so alluring.

Nah, not really alluring. It was more like a longing, a pull more than a feeling. How did _he _do it?

He was not made of the black blood, only tiny traces of it flew through his veins, yet it plagued him almost every moment. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw them, the little red demon and the black room. Insanity.

Yet _he_ would sit there, albeit usually in the corner, but _he_ could still be there and almost sane. Brushing off the fact that _he_ was _made _of black blood, smiling with the group and attending classes.

He guesses it might come with time, but then the little demon hisses promises of power and he thinks that it'll _never stop._

How does _he_ do it?

The heavy metal door clangs when he knocks, he's surprised to hear _him_ answer quietly, but clearly. It's much to late for a normal visit.

"Come in…"

It creaks, the door, and he steps gingerly into the seemingly empty room. He doesn't really know what he's doing here, in the middle of the night, but it feels right.

"H-hello?" _He_ tilts _his_ head slightly in confusion, the longer pink strands of _his_ hair brushing one thin shoulder, as the door clunks shut and he's exposed to _his _corner's view.

He almost walks back out, almost.

"How do you do it?" He blurts it. This isn't how it was supposed to go, but he's too anxious for an answer to care much. Its not cool, but he doesn't notice that either.

"Do w-what?" _His_ voice is small, posture nervous.

"Think, breath, stay _sane_ living with the freakin' insanity!" He's getting impatient and _he_ starts to shake, quivering at the volume.

"I-I don't know how to d-deal with those kind of questions."

"The black blood." He clarifies. _He_ pulled his wandering gaze back to him and tilted _his_ head the other way.

"My blood is black." He let out a gusty sigh that somehow became a chuckle and tottered over to sit next to _him_, only feet away.

"I think mine is too." _He_ was quiet for couple of moments, then made a 'hn' noise.

"I-I don't think I could deal with it if my blood was red." He frowned at this weird statement and fixed _him_ with a crimson-eyed gaze.

"Normal blood is red."

"My blood has always been black."

"Good point." He sighed again, he couldn't even tell if they were getting anywhere with this.

"I-I'm used to it, y-your not?" The weapon was lightly surprised. Was _he_ figuring it out on _his_ own? "I don't know how to deal with that!" He sighed.

"Neither do I."But, for some reason he did feel better. It wasn't his fault, he wasn't extra messed up. _He_ just knew how to deal with it better, sorta.

Maybe _he_ could teach him?

**I really need to write a normal fic, at least once. -.-'**

**My attempt at anonymity, though I'm pretty sure everybody figured it out though, right? I used italics on one set of pronouns to clarify. Thank you wordfiend, blackbloodbaby, Kountry101 and Jakiwi for reviewing!**


	9. Theme 9: Drive

**I dunno where this came from. Thank you blackbloodbaby for reviewing!**

Title: License

Characters: 3 meisters, 4 weapons (guess which ones)

…

Maka groaned under her breath and tried to repress a gasp of pain as she dragged her self into a sitting position. Next to her, Soul flashed out of weapon form and did the same, back popping.

"That, was horrible."

"No duh." The blonde frowned and groaned again.

"I'll Maka-chop you later. It hurts to much now." Soul grinned half-heartedly and flopped back onto the dusty ground.

"Looking foreword to it. How's everybody?"

His meister, dutifully using her higher perch, took inventory. "Tsubaki-chan?"

"Here. Black Stars unconscious." The ninja weapon's voice rang out tiredly from the piles of trash to their left.

"That explains it." Maka turned as Liz crested a junk pile, along with her sister, toting a moaning Kid between them. The scythe technician slumped with relief when she saw that they were all mostly intact. This mission had turned out to be much harder than anticipated. Fifty kinshin _and _a witch… they were lucky to still be alive. Or, at least, that's what it felt like.

"It was too quiet for that idiot to be awake."

"The asymmetry… at least carry me symmetrically…" The young Shinigami whimpered pathetically, with a pleading look at Liz, as they landed on mostly solid ground. The younger Thompson burst out giggling and the elder, with a sigh, adjusted her grip so that she mirrored her sister. "Better…"

"So that's everybody, right?" Soul muttered, closing his eyes.

"Yah-hooo!"

"Black Stars awake." Tsubaki smiled softly as her meister climbed the nearest tower, or attempted to, as the huge pile came crashing down on him instead.

"Black Star!" That black haired girl instantly began digging in the pile, and the others rushed as best they could to help.

"Nothing can kill a god! Kyahahahaha!"

"He's fine." They all let out a collective sigh as the blue-haired assassin shot up from the pile, then jerked with alarm when he collapsed, hissing. Tsubaki tried to catch him and laid his head on her lap while Maka looked over the leg he was trying hard not to clutch in pain.

"It's broken." She stated and contemplated ranting about how stupid that'd been, then decided she was too tired.

"Oh, haha… my leg hasn't figured out how godly it is yet…" He was promptly ignored.

"How are we gonna get home _now _if both Kid and Black Star can't walk?" Soul voiced what they were all thinking in a groan.

"I can wal-"

"No, you can't." Liz glared at the Shinigami while Patti help him down, sniggering. "I could see bone through that gash."

"So, Beelzebub's out?"

Kid scowled, but nodded. "Nobody can ride it but me."

"And considering we walked here…"

"We're stuck." There was another collective sigh that was only broken by Patti's giggling and a faint 'yah-hoo…' from Black Star.

"There's _that_, though." The group followed Tsubaki's gesture to look upon the large van that most of the bad guys had come in. It's engine was still rumbling faintly and it was only half-stuck in a pile of junk.

"Can anybody drive…?" Slowly, six pairs of eyes came to rest on an exasperated Soul.

"I drive a _motorcycle_."

"Well it can't be that different can it?" Liz snapped as Kid whined once again about being chopped up on one leg and not the other while Patti laughed at them all. Soul shrugged and suddenly smirked, getting a gleam in his red eyes.

"We could find out, I guess. It'll be cool." Black Star expressed his agreement, while Maka turned faintly green.

…

Fifty-five minutes later, Liz pulled herself out and landed face-down beside the smoking wreak that had once resembled a van. Maka landed on top of her a second later, but the demon gun was _way_ to tired, and queasy, to care at that point.

"_Never. Again._" The scythe meister could only nod faintly in agreement as her weapon's cackle and the sound of a high-five rang through the air.


	10. Theme 19: Gray

**Haha, I cheated. The theme word is only mentioned briefly and fleetingly, but I hope you enjoy the fluff.**

Maka sighed and stretched her arms over her head, completely content for once. Beside her, Tsubaki had that small smile that meant she was too, which meant that a shopping trip had definitely been in order. Maka would thank Liz later for it.

A surprising amount of people were still out, since it was already dark. And cold. Maka added mentally, cupping her hands and blowing into them briefly before pocketing them again. She smiled when the overlarge parka she had on came open a bit and fixed it, remembering the reason she had a coat on at all.

It'd been mildly warm that morning, Maka had noticed as she bustled about and briefly opened a window, so the scythe meister had opted not to take a coat on the trip, seeing as her one and only coat had gotten a bit too much gore on it from their last mission.

She shuddered at the memory and made sure to leave a note saying where she'd gone, along with another reminding her partner to use a glass this time, and poked her head in to give her slumbering boyfriend a peck on the cheek.

The walk across town had been pleasant and she'd gotten to Tsubaki and Black Star's place without trouble, even managing to pull the ninja weapon away and toward to shops pretty quickly. Meaning, she'd only had to hit Black Star once.

The girls had hit the shops, which were small separate stores all grouped together since Death City had no real mall. Maka had yet to figure out why it didn't have a mall, but still got cold and snowed in the desert every winter. Maybe it was just one of Lord Death's quirks.

A half-hour into the trip, the balmy air started to cool and then turned cold. Maka had just wrapped her arms around herself and began to sigh with relief every time they stepped into a shop. At one point, Tsubaki even kindly offered up her own coat, when she noticed Maka shivering, but the meister shook her head no. It was her own fault for not just grabbing a different coat.

They'd carried on for another half-hour like that, until Maka was just about ready to apologize and go home -warm, warm home- when another voice broke through her thoughts.

"Maka!" Tsubaki and her both turned to see Soul standing in just his pajama pants and a T-shirt, holding his own parka, that he'd obviously just taken off, out toward her and frowning. "I told you it was going to be cold today. Yesterday."

Maka frowned slightly and huffed. "So?"

"So, you should've listened." He sighed exasperatedly and held out the pale gray coat further, pointedly.

Maka pouted, but couldn't help giggling, he looked so ridiculous standing there in soul-printed flannel, as she accepted it.

"Your not even shivering." She accused, revealing in the sudden warmth he'd left behind. He smirked.

"That's because I'm cool like that." She punched him on the shoulder in response, but accepted a kiss graciously.

"Thanks Soul."


	11. Theme 82: Can You Hear Me?

**I tried to do one of those 10 song challenge things, but lost interest so I'm just gonna assign some of them themes and post them here. The rest might be put as oneshots. (There's about five or six of them) Thank you angelxarwen and Death-Meister for favoriting and to those who alerted!**

**My Old Friend - Tim McGraw _ Theme: ****82. Can You Hear Me?**

Soul paused at the doorway for a moment, looking hesitant, almost scared of what he could find in the simple interior, then made a decision and stepped through. There was no certain ramifications, the walls stayed standing and the air was silent, but he seemed to let go of any and all tension.

The dust clogged the area so thickly that when he sat on the wooden floor, right up against the back wall, he threw up a cloud, sneezed and had to cover his mouth with one sleeve.

"Hey." His voice was muffled but he looked at the scenes in front of him calmly. "Sorry its been, what? Three years?" He sneezed again and uncovered his face to chuckle.

"But you weren't one to visit much yourself were you?" The chuckle faded from his eyes as they roved across the wall. The crimson gaze fixed on one particular memory. It in a young, teenage boy stood grinning widely and, standing with his arm thrown wildly around a tall raven-haired girl, apparently shouting at the camera.

"Hah, I remember that. Your first soul, you were so fuckin' proud of yourself. Even though everyone else was way far ahead…" He laughed again, just a little, but sobered up fast. His eyes caught another image.

In this one the same boy was stomping onto a gigantic structure that might've been a sand-castle while a black haired boy, with three stark white half-stripes decorating one side as well, looked like he was about to start crying on the side and the tall girl looked hassled in the background.

"Che, I dunno how you put up with that idiot. All the noise all the time. Though, you were never really bothered with that kind of stuff were you?"

He paused, half-expecting an answer, then jerked when his eyes landed on a picture with himself standing centerfold. He was handsomely dressed in a black suit and smiling gently, holding the hands of his, then just meister, now wife. The same ruckus-causing boy, almost a man, was obviously trying to jump in the middle and was being held back by the same girl and two others, both of them blonde and blue eyed.

He remembered that too, since it had been his wedding day. "You begged me forever to forgive that. I feel bad for refusing, you know."

He stared at the wall and reminisced for hours like that. Chatting to the room in general and making comments on all the times they'd had, until the sky outside grew pitch black and the sounds of traffic faded away.

"Soul?" The white-haired man flinched in surprise at the soft, confused whisper. He rose to turn toward the door.

"Yeah, sorry its been forever and a day. Maka wanted to come, but with the baby…" Soul trialed off and took a moment to really look at the friend he hadn't seen in such a long time. "How're you… holding up?"

"I'm fine." Black Star's voice was hoarse and he turned, without meeting Soul's gaze, toward the picture covered wall with a haunted look in his eyes.

"I wish, just once, she'd been in the front, though. You know?"

"Yeah… I know."


	12. Theme 8: Innocence

**The Best Day - Taylor Swift _ Theme: ****8. Innocence**

"Mama, Maaaamaaa!" The five year old giggled and ran from room to room, ducking her head in and running away again with shrieks of laughter.

"Maka! Over here!" The women's voice called tauntingly from the direction of the stairs and the little girl caught a tiny glance of blonde hair before footsteps thumped overhead and her mother's clear laugh rang through the air.

The toddler took chase, climbing the stairs with a bit of trouble, and saw her mother stick her head around the corner just as she made it up. Maka gurgled and ran after the women, as she gasped and jumped away, yelling 'mama' again.

Kami only ran for a little while before letting her little girl 'catch' her causing Maka's small face to light up with delight. "Okay, okay I give up!"

"I gots you!" Maka stated, grinning broadly and grabbing her mother's leg. Kami fell to the floor in mock agony.

"The greatest death scythe strikes again!" The little girl yelled in surprise as she was grabbed and laughed as her mother blew a raspberry on her tummy.

"Yay! Like Papa, right Mama?" Kami settled her beaming daughter in her lap with an indulgent smile.

"Exactly like Papa."


	13. Theme 78: Drink

**Good Girls Go Bad - Cobra Starship ft. Leighton Meester _ Theme: 78. Drink**

Drum beats crashed rhythmically from somewhere in the back of the building, vaguely to the right of the only table still left standing in the entire building. Black Star waved his hand for another refill as the noise faded and a new song began. The one employee who'd been brave enough, or stupid enough, to hang around stumbled foreword.

The blue-haired man scowled darkly as his glass was filled again, sending the poor barman scurrying back to the counter he'd been hiding behind for the last three hours or so. The plain soda didn't respond to his death glare and ignored him.

The assassin sighed, resigned himself and took a drink, groaning as he suddenly recognized the song that was playing. He should be drunk by now. Lord, why wasn't he drunk by now?

_"I make them good girls go bad!"_

The masculine voice crowed, still on key despite the highly intoxicated state he was in. Black Star gave into the urges and collapsed headfirst onto the table beside Maka, who just snorted a little and went back to sleep.

_"I make them good girls go-"_

For hours he'd been forced to sit here and listen, completely sober, to one of his best friends sing drunkenly arm and arm with…

_"Good girls go BAD!"_

Tsubaki leaned on Soul as she giggled into the mic and they both did a weird little dance along with the music pouring out of the speakers. Black Star realized somewhere in his mind that his partner would be mortified later and he should be taking pictures, but was really to sober to care at the moment.

_"I know your type!"_

Maka suddenly jerked up and fixed her bleary gaze on the stage as Soul once again began crooning the lyrics out to the audience. Which, coupled with his reputation as a Deathscythe, red eyes and shark-like grin, was making quite a few of the women present give up consciousness.

She blinked once, twice, then slowly pointed and gave Black Star a goofy grin.

"That's hot." The blonde meister then preceded to make herself comfortable on Black Star's lap. He was, by far, used to it by now. Maka, it seems, was a cuddly drunk.

_"Your daddy's little girl! Just take a bite!"_

_"One bite!" _Tsubaki chimed, a bit too late, though nobody seemed to notice.

Black Star bashed his head on the table again and cursed Kid to the end of hell.

So being the designated driver was harder then being the drunk one, the Shinigami still shouldn't have skipped out and dared the great him to fill the position. The assassin growled and shook a fist at no one in particular as Maka giggled again.

_"Cause just one night couldn't be so wrong~!"_

And since when were Soul and Tsubaki drinking buddies any way?

Black Star decided it was probably a weapon thing.

**If anyone is a fan-artist out there, please, please draw this. Sorry if it didn't turn out as funny as I wanted. Thank you very much blackbloodbaby, Shenzuul,** **HolyCowWorshipper and magnusrae** **for reviewing! And to the ones who alerted!**


	14. Theme 12: Insanity

Warnings: Yuri

Conversation echoed slightly in the cavernous classroom, melding dozens of individual voices into a low, intangible murmur.

"_**Happy now aren't they…?"**_

Maka couldn't hear any of it.

"_**So naive, I wonder what their screams would sound like?"**_

The blonde meister gritted her teeth and ignored the cool voice and the even cooler fingers lifting one of her pigtails, because they _weren't there_. Even as they drifted down the linger on her cheek and tease her shirt collar…

"_**Not there, hm? I'm offended. Though, confidence does run with insanity. Hand in hand… who was it that said that?"**_

"Be quiet." Maka snarled under her breath. Tsubaki was too kind to be hurt.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong?" She sounded distressed. Maka opened her eyes and forced a smile.

"Oh, no Tsubaki-chan. I'm sorry, keep going. I was just out of it for a moment."

"'_**Out of it'. Wonderful choice of words."**_

'_Shut up' _Maka growled, mentally this time. But, in the same moment, allowed her eyes to drift closed once more. Just so she could _feel._ The wood in front of her creaked, breath whispered across her face.

Then cold lips were on her own and any awareness that Maka had retained of Tsubaki next to her faded away to nothing.

The bell's ringing surprised her. Maka opened her eyes to nothing. Empty air. As always._ Not enough._

'_This is hell.' _Medusa smiled, snake-like in the back of her mind.

"_**And you love it."**_

**Okay, don't dis-alert there's SoMa up next!**


	15. Theme 16: Questioning

"How about Emily?"

"Nah. Rosalie?"

"Hmmm…"

"Maybe?" Maka didn't wait for an answer and scrawled the name down on the sheet of paper perched atop a thick, hardcover book in her lap.

"Emma?" She proceeded to fire off. Soul snorted.

"That's just a nickname version of 'Emily'. Blair?" He turned his face away to hide his smirk.

"Your not serious." Maka frowned, making a face. Soul chuckled and flopped back over so that he was facing her.

"Of course not." She seemed appeased and moved the paper so that she could peek into the book it'd been lying on. Soul began rolling around on the over-large bed to amuse himself, bumping her legs repeatedly.

"Ami?"

"Ami Evans? To close to a rhyme."

"So?"

"So, rhyming isn't cool." He rolled his eyes.

"Four years of Deathscythe training, two years of collage, and _then_ three years of marriage and you still live by the law of 'cool'." It was Maka's turn to roll her eyes, Soul just grinned mischievously.

"Absolutely. May?"

"You got that off of a cartoon." She grumbled. "Are you really trying?" Soul stopped wiggling to look up at her, once again frowning, expression.

"To tell you the truth, no."

"Soul, this is impor-"

"I know." He scooted back to rest his head on her lap and smiled at the ceiling. "But I think anything can be ruined by too much stress. I mean…" He looked up and grinned.

"I decided to marry you the morning of the day I asked." She broke and matched his smile with her own, running a hand through his hair.

"I felt kind of cheated you know. You weren't even nervous and asked so casually, whilst I was about to faint." Soul grabbed her hand as it ran over his forehead and kissed her palm.

"What can I say? I'm cool like that. Now, stop worrying about the name."

"I just don't see how you can _not _wor-"

"Maka." He interrupted again, voice tinged with exasperation but mostly just amusement, and began to wiggle up to lay by her side. "Stop. Worrying."

"But-" Soul ignored her and leaned down to address her protruding stomach this time.

"Hey little guy, you think mommy should be quiet and let your papa finally go to sleep, right?" Maka pouted half-heartedly and lightly hit his shoulder, but put away the list and the book.

"Jerk."

"But, you love me anyways." Soul leaned over her to turn off the lamp, managing to steal a kiss as he did so, then plopped down onto the pillow beside her and pulled up the comforter to cover them both with a blissful sigh. All was silent for a peaceful moment, until…

"Hey! I thought we agreed it was going to be a girl!"

"James?" He proposed with a sleepy smirk.

**A/N Hehehe, sorry those who don't like this couple, but I think they're adorable. Thank you magnusrae and blackbloodbaby for reviewing and to the person who alerted! Did I match the theme?**


	16. Theme 1: Introduction

_If someone has always been alone, is it possible to tell whether they're lonely?_

The sky was blue and cloudless today. Blue, flat, dull.

'_How boring.' _The teen's silver-green eyes wandered from above, to below the place where he perched, unseen. The view from this topmost balcony, nearly two-hundred feet from the courtyard far below, would likely have struck any other person who saw it breathless. But, as he knew, he wasn't just any person.

In fact, nothing had really impressed him for a monotonous while. Ever since he'd joined this 'school' partnered with a weapon and willingly agreed to live under Death's law, which meant he could no longer perform the more… 'enjoyable' experiments on his fellow beings, he'd been bored.

He'd even tried it on himself; he exhaled and raised a pale hand to feel the scars crisscrossing his thin chest under the uniform's clothe. It wasn't nearly as fun, he mused. But that didn't mean he'd stopped completely.

Stein grinned sadistically. Spirit, for an upperclassman, could be so naive…

His grin faded when he heard a creaking noise from behind.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't know a-anybody was u-up here." The boy blinked and slowly turned toward the hiccupping voice to be met with one big, tear-filled, golden eye. His gaze slid across the rest of the girl's face and he noticed that the other was covered in a patch, and that she was crying.

The problem was, he didn't know this girl.

Even since before joining Shibusen, Franken Stein had made it a habit to keep records on every person in the places he had stayed, and Stein had stayed in many places, in case they were needed for, ah… later purposes. But this girl he didn't recognize. That troubled him somewhat.

She blinked, sniffling, at his indifferent expression and rubbed at her face fiercely, her long, wavy blonde hair falling foreword as her shoulders shook. Stein watched and didn't move.

"I-I'll just be g-going t-then." She turned and pulled back open the door. "B-bye."

Her voice was laced with sorrow, but covered fervently by fake cheer. She gave a little backward wave and took a step into the yawning doorway.

"Why." She stopped and looked back, confused, Stein noticed that her eye had widened in surprise.

"Huh?"

'_Why are you crying?'_

"Why leave. There is plenty of area left." He looked away and gestured uncaringly as he spoke, and didn't turn back to see what she'd do.

The girl just stood there for a moment and looked between his back and the doorway, uncertain. Then she seemed to make up her mind.

Stein heard the heavy door clang shut and felt the old, rusty rail beneath him quiver as she sat down facing toward the building, opposite of him.

They sat in silence for seconds that stretched into minutes. Stein spent the time watching a pair of hawks swirl in the sky above the school and contemplated their structure. His hand twitched. He wanted to find out what made them tick…

"They're pretty." He blinked and turned his green-grey gaze toward the figure next to him. She was focused on the hawks still spinning freely above. The tears had apparently stopped flowing, but her eyes were misty with some weird emotion and her face was flushed red. She nodded at the birds with a wane smile when she noticed him looking.

"I want to know how they work." Stein shut his mouth, surprised at himself. Spirit was the one who talked to girls he didn't know. Never Stein, he'd learned that people found him creepy. '_She didn't find him creepy.'_

He frowned at the thought, but she didn't notice. She looked thoughtful.

"I guess I do too. It's always something to think about." He tried to convey his confusion through his usually emotionless face and, fortunately, she got the message. "Flying, I mean. Everybody wants to at some point, right?"

She gave him a small smile and turned back to the hawks, who were beginning to flit off into the distance. He didn't try to correct her, although their thoughts had been on entirely different sides of the spectrum, just watched with his new-found confused face. She noticed.

"You're a weird one aren't you?" She suddenly burst into a friendly grin. Stein raised a brow. She seemed to realize what she'd said two seconds later.

"Oh! I-I mean, not weird in a _weird _way! Just not normal!" He raised the other brow.

"Ahhhh! Not abnormal! That isn't what I meant either- um!" She lapsed into a blushing stutters. Stein couldn't help it, her expression was priceless.

Marie lapsed into silence as the first little chuckle floated into the summer air, followed by another, until the pale, decidedly weird boy next to her was laughing his head off.

It only sounded a little bit insane and completely real, something that Marie didn't often find in their world of survival and strength. So, she joined in. Laughing until she was crying again and he'd long stopped to watch.

Two hours later they both lay on their backs watching the bright blue sky overhead, while Marie talked her heart out about stupid boys and even stupider girls and Stein told her about his partner and his insanity.

"My name's Franken."

"Marie Mjolnir."

_Together. Antonym to alone, infinitely more exciting._

**Erm. Sorry if this isn't up to stat. It was an old one I found in the back of my computer's memory and edited a bit. Thank you blackbloodbaby, HolyCowWorshipper, and Kountry101 for reviewing! And to those who alerted/favorited. *bows***


	17. Theme 32: Night

The night draped black and heavy over the piled city, and not even the grinning moon made a sound. The women smiled uneasily. At least that meant no one would be awake… She licked her chapped lips and stepped further along the brick wall, touching the rope tucked in her waistband and fingering the bag in her hand uneasily.

Sure, she'd done this before. It was just another job, another week stuck with some whining victim before the cash was coughed up and she could let them go. But, at the same time, this was completely and utterly different.

She jerked her head around, without a sound, as one of the ropes hanging around the yard creaked, then breathed a small sigh of relief as the dummy on the rope stared back lifelessly. She tried not to look at the sign stating the mansion's name as she turned to scan the gates again and swallowed.

This time it was Death's son. _The_ Death.

She gulped again, hard, and tried to focus on the payoff instead of the price for failure. This house was as good of proof as any, the Shinigami's were loaded beyond belief. If she could pull this off… she pulled out the rope and started swinging it in a circle, making sure to check whether the hook at the end was secure.

She would never have to kidnap anyone ever again... She let it fly.

The metal claw hit the wood of the window sill with an audible _thunk_ that made her wince, but stayed firm when she tugged on it. She didn't waste any time and started climbing as quietly as possible.

As far as the women had been able to tell, over several days of reconnaissance , the Gallows Mansion had no security systems, no guards, and the kid slept with his window cracked exactly eight inches open every night.

She shook her head, grip firm on the taught braid, as she remembered the fit the little boy had had one morning when he realized that it'd only been cracked it seven-point-eight-seven inches throughout the night. It'd really just been a lot of crying and the words, "Seven father! _Two _sevens!" over and over. The women scoffed.

'_What a thing to get upset about…' _But, the open window was definitely to her advantage, so she wasn't complaining.

She paused for a brief moment, hanging suspended on the thick string, outside said opening and listened hard. Soft, even breathing was all the answer she needed to quickly place a hand on the upper portion of the window and slide it upward, entering crouched onto cool wooden floors a second later.

She didn't stay there long, the door was closed already, but she spotted the lock on the knob and strode over to lock it. Then she began pulling several items out of the bag, that she'd taken off of her belt, with cold efficiency.

"So, your not here to rob the house."

The women couldn't help it, she squawked and sprawled back onto her bottom. Then stared with something akin to terror at the tiny, pale toddler who had managed to sneak up behind her and who went on, completely oblivious. "I told father! He was certain you wanted all of his cookies, as well."

He fixed her with a stern, golden glare that didn't match his young, pudgy face. "He's spent the entire week hiding them in the most asymmetrical places you know. And all of them were I can't reach. You see!"

He pointed his index finger behind her exasperatedly, she turned her head slowly at his insistence and took in the chocolate-chip cookie taped 'discreetly' in the top right corner of a black and white painting hanging midway up the wall. Her left eyebrow twitched as her horrified face fell into annoyed amazement. _'Is Lord Death insane?' _

The little reaper continued, unaware of her thoughts, and started pacing agitatedly. "I told him that it was only kidnapping. No offense, but you don't look anything like a cookie thief." He gave her a brief apologetic glace, as if she might be offended. "But, he said that I may be getting too full of myself."

He stopped pacing to let out a long-suffering sigh. The women's brain finally seemed to kick in again during the pause.

"W-wait! So you knew I was coming!"

"Yes," He had the grace to look a bit sheepish. "I may have peeked in father's mirror the first time, but the other times were all on my own. Your not very discrete, you know. I mean, _binoculars?_" He snorted and she had the weird urge to defend her poor binoculars' honor. "So, are we going then?"

That made her brain halt again. "Huh?" He rolled his eyes.

"Are you taking me or not? I warn you, the maids get up early. So, we'd best be going." She blinked once, twice.

"You aren't going to raise the alarm? Yell? Scream?" He shook his head.

"What would be the fun in that? Besides, father gives you leave to feed me ice cream. But, he wants the ransom known by tomorrow and me to be back in at least a week." He nodded formally. She slowly sat up and began rubbing her temples.

"How do you know I won't just kill you?"

"Father always knows, he says you aren't the bad sort." Seeing as she wasn't moving, he took the liberty of getting in the sack she'd brought himself, so his voice was muffled.

"Now, come on." The bag wiggled a bit and his head popped back out of the top. "But, remember, ice cream."

"But not to much~." At this point, the women was not surprised to see the older reaper bouncing around in the mirror. "Kiddo doesn't take to sugar too well~." He chuckled and his son groaned, burrowing back into the bag.

After that, how she managed to pick up the bag, get down the rope and across town to her hideout again is something the women will never know.

The fact that the kid continued to chant "ice cream, eight scopes" the entire way, did nothing for her sanity.

**Technically an OC story, but if you want you can imagine the mystery women as any women in Soul Eater who may seem a bit like a kidnapper. Also, I hope you thought it was funny, because I was giggling my head off. Thank you HolyCowWorshipper, magnusrae, blackbloodbaby, Shenzuul, and splitDEVOTION for reviewing! And to the ones who alerted/favorited! **


	18. Theme 4: Dark

Two thin, young knees hit the floor with a dull thud, followed by the slap of hands on stone and an hysterical giggle. One limb after another Maka Albarn dragged herself to the center of the unforgiving rock, leaving little smears of red behind, unable to focus on the figure laying there through the tears drowning her bright green eyes. Silently, her partner phased out of weapon form and sat, facing away, with his head in his hands.

"Hey." The scythe meister stretched out a shaky hand and let out another loose chuckle. "Hey, guess what?"

The black-clothed figure didn't respond as it was grabbed and pulled away from the drying black puddle covering the entire area, a dead weight. So much blood, too much blood. Maka didn't see it.

"She's dead now you know? We killed her." Maka pulled the body part way into her lap and shook it. "So you can wake up now. S-she won't hurt you." She shook harder and there was still no answer.

"Wake u-up." Maka's smile faded a little as she noticed the useless salt-water getting all over the tiny, pale face. She wiped it away, brushing black-tainted pink bangs with gloved hands. Chrona always said she couldn't deal with people crying.

But, the tears kept falling and Maka kept wiping them away.

"That was a stupid thing to do." Indigo eyes stayed closed. "I might get mad."

She couldn't get mad. She shook the thin shoulder's, laughed again. "Hey, this isn't funny anymore."

"…Wake up."

'_Wake up…'_

"Wake up!"

'_Please… no…'_

"Wake up, please!"

'_No.. no… no, no, no, no!"_

"She won't wake up." Maka wanted to bite the warm hand on her shoulder. Didn't want to hear the words, full of sorrow and comfort.

'_Please!'_

"No!" Her voice was feral, rough. "S-she's just scared. She was always s-scared."

"Maka, she's gone." Stein didn't put his hand back when she slapped it away. Soul's rough sobs filtered through Maka's thoughts and something clicked. Faint sounds of Marie's whimpering began to reach her.

She wiped the black blood from cold lips, stroked the choppy pink strands back again.

"She never even got proper a hair cut." Maka coughed, laughed and hunched over, feeling like she was going to throw up. "She said she wanted to go see that movie, it was going to be a girls night out."

She coughed again, gagged and cried, held the starved form to her chest and wished it was warm. Died inside. Laughed again.

"Isn't that so _stupid?"_

**...**

**...I'm depressed...**

**Thank you SkaleFlappper15, Kountry 101, magnusrae, Shenzuul, and blackbloodbaby for reviewing. And thank you to the many who alerted and favorited.**


	19. Theme 74: Are You Challenging Me?

"Whoa, is that him?"

"Yeah, Lord Death's son."

"He's so distant."

"Don't get too close, he could beat you like _that_."

Kid clenched his fist and then clenched the other one, to keep the symmetry. He knew that narrowing his eyes probably made him even more daunting, but he didn't care.

It was like this every time he went to go see his father. The open staring, the barely concealed whispers- He scowled- the _awe_. He didn't want any of it.

The fear and respect that parted the crowds before him, singling him out, made his pale skin crawl. The hands that sometimes teasingly went out, then drew back, giggling, when he passed made his chest burn. The fact that even the teachers called him 'Master Kid Death' made him long… long for something.

"Hey you!"

Kid took two more steps until he heard the three footsteps in quick succession and felt the soul wavelength right behind him, then his training kicked in and he put an arm off to block with inhuman speed.

Of course, this would happen now and again too. The one in the bunch who'd try, or be dared to try, to tear him down. To prove his strength. Though, they'd never last past the first attack.

After they were blocked or lightly knocked away, after they'd seen the side he kept underneath cool manners and aloof expressions, then they'd stutter back with squeaking apologies. Back into the sea of their classmates, safe. And he'd be alone again.

A heavy silver and black boot hit his forearm a millisecond after he'd put it there and widened blue green eyes met his luminescent gold for a moment, before they crinkled over a happy smirk.

"Your fast."

Then the challenger pushed off and made the move standoffish with a back flip, landing perfectly on the other side of the little circle of un-crowded hallway. But, there were no apologies. No backing away. Kid was intrigued, so he stayed facing the wall, waited to see what the boy'd do next.

"You, son of Lord Death!" The air was punctuated with a scoff. "Or whatever! Don't you stay a high n' mighty! Because your speaking to the man who's gonna one day beat you up!"

The pure and open stupidity of the speech he'd just heard whooshed through the young death god and nearly blew him over.

"Idiot." He managed, as he turned around half-way to be met with spiky blue hair and a Shibusen freshman, even shorter than him.

"What! What was that! Are you looking down on me!" The boy pointed and shouted. "You should rest easy while you still can! I'm gonna surpass all of the gods sometime soon! Including you!"

'_Surpassing the gods…? Huh, what an interesting dream.'_

"Are you laughing at me over there!" Neither Shinigami, nor blue-haired boy took any more notice of their classmates as Kid turned to fully face the spunky little brat.

"Laugh at you? Of course not." He felt the grin almost unwillingly steal across his face. "I'll take you on anytime!"

_And that's a promise._

**This chapter in the manga always made me giggle, it was so adorable! Sorry for the semi-late update, I forgot. Thank you magnusrae, blackbloodbaby, HolyCowWorshipper, and SkaleFlapper15 for reviewing! And to the ones who alerted/favorited. *bows***


	20. Theme 14: Smile

"Oh, wow it's him…"

"The orphan right…?"

"No, no I heard his mom was in jail…"

"That she _experimented _on him…"

"Oh yeah, I heard that too…"

"Freak…"

_Freak…_

Chrona hunched up his shoulders as the words echoed again in his head and wished fervently to be somewhere else… anywhere else… He'd even take Medusa over their pointed looks, disgusted faces burning through his black clothes in this empty hall. Unprotected from their judgment.

"Did she kill people…?"

"No, but she tried…"

"She's crazy…"

"They both are…"

"I don't want him here…"

_Don'twantDon'twantDon'twantDon'twant_

Chrona missed his room. The dark impassive corners that would embrace and shelter him. Hidden from the world. Hidden from everything.

It was too bright here, in this place he'd been pushed into. Too many people, too much light, too many voices outside of his own. It made his head _hurt_.

"He should leave…"

_LeaveLeaveLeaveLeaveLeave_

He just presses the books closer to his thin chest and tries to block them out.

_Don'twantDon'twantDon'twantDon'twant_

He clenches his eyes shut and stumbles.

"Oh."

She's _warm._

"S-sorry."

"Oh no, it's alright. Accidents right?"

She's _beautiful._

"Hey, your that new student-!"

He flinches, she _notices._

"Do you want to come with me? We have the next class together, right?"

She _reaches out._

"I'm Maka."

She _smiles._

And he _smiles_ back.

**We are now officially a fifth of the way through this little adventure! Thank you magnusrae, welnakia, blackbloodbaby, and EdwardClone13 for reviewing! And to the ones who faved/alerted! *bows***

**-Requested by blackbloodbaby. /Though technically I've already done a ChroMa since you made the request, in this one Chrona is a _boy_. :)/**


	21. Theme 77: Test

_BAM!_

"A little more the right."

_BAM! _

"Your other right."

_BAM! BAM! BAM!_

"Don't waste ammo on emotions, it's pointless."

Soul let out a gusty sigh that turned into a growl as he turned and let the lifeless pistol drop to thump against his thigh pitifully. The object of his annoyance, however, just ignored him and blew on one handful of perfectly manicured nails nonchalantly, leaning against his bike.

"Maybe I wouldn't miss so much if you were _actually _over here teaching me how to do this thing right." He pointed out bitterly, knowing what the answer would be already, since they'd engaged in this argument about six times so far during the long hour they'd been out in this desert.

"You have to hit the non-moving, large, perfectly visible cactus first." Liz blinked impassively and pulled out a file to work at some nonexistent flaw on one finger while Soul snarled and turned to bare his teeth at said hittable cactus.

It was all that nutty professor's fault in his opinion. Including the fact that he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

"Maybe you should try using a scythe sometime…" He muttered and raised his arm to fire another round in the direction of the obnoxious plant. When he was done, he squinted at it and rolled his eyes at the sky when no holes were evident, letting out another loud growl.

"I did, and as I remember I managed to get my balance and hit something within twenty minutes." The weapon sniffed and moved on to file the other hand. "A twelve-year-old Patty could've hit this target in the amount of time it takes you to load."

"Patty has been shooting guns since she was seven." He pointed out.

"Patty has been shooting _me_ since she was seven. There's a major difference." She shot back. "I meant that she could do it with the hunk of metal your holding."

"Then could I try firing _you_?" He huffed, already knowing the answer to that too, and watched as she leaned down to pull two water bottles out of the cooler at her feet.

"Put a hole in the cactus first. I refuse to be welded be someone who can't even hit a plant." He caught the water she threw him and glared at her as he unscrewed the cap.

"Maybe I refuse to hit defenseless wildlife." She just shrugged and took a swig of her bottle.

"Then you can deal with your partner when she learns that you failed this assignment." Soul's eyebrows pinched together as he took a drink from his own bottle, but he knew she was right.

Once again, it was all Stein's fault. A couple of days ago, the scientist had gotten it into his head that he wanted to see if weapons would be just as efficient in battle if they were being wielded by other weapons. The result: Soul being partnered with Liz Thompson, of all people, and being forced to learn how to shoot a gun within a week.

"You remember that this grade counts for meisters as well as weapons, right?" She nodded in reponse, putting the file away again.

"Yup."

"Maka _will _kill me if I fail."

"That is probably true."

"It'll be your fault."

"I'll make sure to have it written on your tombstone. Now, go shoot the wildlife." She then proceeded to pull clear nail polish out of nowhere and make herself comfortable on the seat of his bike. Soul snorted and decided to ignore her, focusing on the distant target instead.

_BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! _

He fired off a complete magazine and sighed at the completely unharmed shape sitting twenty feet away.

"Wow, that was truly amazing." The demon scythe instantly stiffened in surprise as the voice sounded from right behind him, but managed not to scream and jump away un-coolly. "Now that I'm close, I can see why your not hitting it."

"That's what I've been try-" The boy choked and stopped mid-sentence as his hand holding the gun, that he'd been waving for emphasis, was caught in a tanned grip and suddenly there was another warm body pressed snuggly up against his. He could hear her chuckle as he stiffened uncomfortably, but she didn't let go.

"First of all, don't hold the thing with just one hand. I'm surprised you haven't knocked your brain out yet." She instructed, then grabbed his free hand and brought it up so that it was folded with his other one under both of hers. "Second, don't just fire off randomly."

Soul tried not to jerk away, but felt a blush building on his cheeks as she leaned foreword to set her chin on his shoulder and press their cheeks together.

"You have to look down the barrel and make sure it's pointed at the thing your trying to hit." Soul honestly didn't know how he was supposed to be sure of anything with her standing that close to him, but it turned out he didn't have to as she maneuvered the gun into position for him. "Tighten your muscles. If their lax it's either going to kick like a bitch, or go wild."

Soul foggily obliged and felt her grip tighten over his as he looked down the barrel.

"Then shoot." At the last moment, Liz pulled away a second before a shot rang out. Surprisingly, the scythe missed the warmth despite the desert heat surrounding them. "And there you go."

Soul blinked and then turned his head to stare for a few second, in awe, at the perfect little hole cut straight through the center of the cactus. The same stupid cactus he'd been trying to hit for nearly an hour and a half now and never even gotten close to. How did she-!

"You better hurry up, or I'm leaving you." He was shocked out of amazement by that, and swung back around to watch her swagger away with his keys dangling around one dainty fingertip.

"Hey, what about getting to shoot_ you_!" He sputtered and couldn't help patting the pocket of his jeans that she'd obviously just emptied without permission.

"You know, now that I think about it, that sounds way to dirty." Soul blanched and she kept walking. "But, I guess you'll get to 'shoot me' after you can manage a normal gun without help."

…

Later that day, Soul would begin to wonder why the concept suddenly seemed so appealing.

**Ahhh, that was very fun. And full of innuendos. Unless you're not a pervert. Then I guess it was fluffy. Thank you Eurwen de Vrill, blackbloodbaby, and 2random4words for reviewing! And thanks to those who alerted/faved! *bows* **

**This coupling was requested be Eurwen de Vrill and was done in record time (for me) because I was attacked by a rabid plot bunny.**

…**I really wanna write one with Liz wielding a scythe now. **


	22. Theme 76: Broken Pieces

**Warning: Yuri**

Tsubaki had always been one to try her hardest. Any missteps would reflect poorly on herself and her family, it was the code she was raised by.

Don't mess up. Don't be overconfident. Don't forget your training.

Don't, don't, don't -_ever-_ make a mistake.

It was, it was, it was…

It was her fault.

The first mistake? A warning that came too slowly (or did it come too fast?).

Second mistake: Being out of weapon form during a battle and getting injured as a result.

Third mistake: Falling.

_Poor pretty flower, petals all around…_Was this blood loss or vertigo? Black Star was much too far away to catch her.

Fourth mistake, Tsubaki scolded herself, as if it still mattered.

It was odd how long it took, dieing or falling. Whichever applied. Tsubaki watched the stars to count it down.

"Tsubaki!" _Tsubaki, Tsubaki, falling to the ground. _You shouldn't yell in public Black Star.

"Tsubaki!" You shouldn't either Soul-kun.

"Tsubaki!" Maka-chan-

The small chest that hit her felt like a ton of bricks, hard, solid, thin, searing. It scared her already short breath away, into the night.

She was falling, she was terrified, and it _hurt_.

"Maka!" Her voice was raspy, choking over the wind roaring in her ears and what's a suffix when your falling to your death?

Time was speeding back up.

Maka's face looked surprisingly pretty splattered with blood.

"Hold on!" What could the camellia do but obey? Wrapped like a princess in the strong knight's arms.

Maka was _very_ adapt at landing on her feet, her grip tightening for one sweet stable moment. A daydream at night.

"That was close." Tsubaki vaguely recalled that this night's monster used water in it's attacks.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Habitual question. Dark liquid in the night, running, streaming, pooling. Probably nothing.

Tsubaki couldn't stand.

"What's wrong? Did you- _Is this blood!_" The nice white gloves were getting all stained, why try to hold it in? Too much is gone already.

_Broken flower- _Why are you crying?

"Soul, Black Star!" Her strong voice caught, wobbled. The tourniquet wasn't working. "_Help…!"_

Would Maka mind if Tsubaki touched her cheek? Kissed the salty tears away?

But then, Maka-chan was a girl. Tsubaki smiled.

Fifth mistake.

**Double updates planned for this week, since it's been so long. So expect another one tomorrow. Thank you 2random4words, SkaleFlapper15, magnusrae, and britishmexi27 for reviewing. And to those who favved/alerted. *bows***

**...There should probably be a limit to how many times you can kill off a character per story, huh?**


	23. Theme 15: Silence

It is nearly twenty minutes after the Kishin God's death that Chrona notices.

Maka is celebrating happily, there are no vulgar comments to ruin her mood.

Innocent souls are floating through the air, no one demands to eat them.

Her head is up, nobody is on it.

She's still alive, nobody demands a 'thank you'.

"Raganarok?"

And Chrona trembles.

…_the wound through her middle was too sudden and severe for the black blood to handle…_

…_probably the last wave that finally managed to clog it…_

…_she's very lucky, it saved her life…_

…_turning red? How strange…_

But in Chrona's opinion, it was his worst prank yet.

**Next chapter will hopefully be longer. Thank you blackbloodbaby for reviewing! And to the ones who alerted/favorited! *bows***


	24. Theme 39: Dreams

The night her mother left, was the night Maka Albarn was treated to her first nightmare.

Sure, she'd had bad dreams before. Nonsensical little flashes of a test that she might've done bad on or a what would happen if she couldn't find a partner at the entrance ceremony. None of them had really effected her all that much, and all of them had been scared away by the gentle sounds of breathing nearby and the constant pulse of her parents' souls.

Now, however, everything was completely different. Her mother was gone, probably forever, Papa had left to 'get Mama out of his head' and her new partner was still getting their apartment ready for them both. Nobody was home, Maka was in the dark, she was terrified, and she was left with only long dark corridors and screeching laughter.

"Mama! Papa!" Were the first words out of her lips when the school halls she'd been dreaming of darkened and shrouded into long, unforgiving corridors. Only the cruel laughter answered and, almost without realizing it, Maka started crying as she called out again. "Mama!"

"Mama, she says!" The cruel voice cackled in a mocking soprano. "Well she left didn't she! Nobody wants a little girl who can't even stop her parents from fighting!"

Maka bit her lip and swung around, trying to find her voice and make it stop. "Shut up! Papa!"

"Oh he'll never come either! He obviously loves those other women much more! I mean, he's with them now!" The girl fisted her hands and rubbed at her tears, gasping when she nearly fell.

"No! Soul!"

"Even your partner will leave! That's what men do!" The mean voice chanted. "Everybody leaves!"

This time Maka did fall and suddenly she was even more alone. Just floating in a dark space.

"_Even I'll leave…_"

That's when she started screaming. The blankets around her suddenly became too tight, they were going to chock her away and nobody would care-!

"Geez, geez, _geez_!" All at once the sheets were ripped away and strong arms were pulling her away from the cold walls and into a warm, muscled chest. Maka only struggled for a moment before she broke down and sobbed for the first time, straight into a star-marked nightshirt. "God, Maka.."

Despite herself, Maka only gripped the fabric tighter when she recognized the bed-mussed blue hair and blue-green eyes of her visitor.

"B-Black Star! Mama is-!"

"Yeah… I know."

And maybe once, just this once, it was okay to be held by a boy-turning-man.

* * *

**So… I used Black Star's post-Mifune manga personality. Which, of course, means he's completely and utterly OOC. I apologize (specifically to Eurwen de Vrill, who's request was bypassed for this one. I will still get it done!).**

**Thank you to Shenzuul, KeybladeBanditJing, blackbloodbaby, and magnusrae for reviewing! And to the ones who alerted/favved! *bows***


	25. Theme 72: Mischief Managed

The low murmur of constant conversation and dim lighting washed the room with a comfortable air that was only added to by the clink of silverware and the occasional, semi-loud, flirty laugh.

"This is not a date." Not how Black Star usually spent his evenings. But, then again, he'd always loved surprises. He stuck an elbow down onto the table idly and briefly deigned to notice that he was messing up the intricately folded napkin serving as the centerpiece. The man did have to give quality of this place credit, it was adequately fit for someone of his caliber and maybe a mite better than his usual ramen-based affair. The assassin would now admit, Soul sure knew how to pick them, in more ways than one.

"I think it is." He let out a cat-like smirk as astonishment flickered briefly before it gave away for that adorable sulk to move back in.

"I'm just filling in because Soul asked me to, and because your date didn't show up." One elegant forefinger pointed at the ceiling for a moment, to accent the statement, before it fell back into a refined tangle of folded arms and silky black fabric. Black Star quirked a brow.

"That's what you said the last time and the time before that, and the time before that, and that one time-"

"I was drunk!"

"And yet you obviously remember with perfect clarity." He pointed out smoothly and leaned back to watch as pale, smooth cheeks colored indignantly. This was one fire that Black Star particularly relished in fueling. "And you know you liked it when I-"

"Your detestable." The big word skimmed over spiky blue hair with barely a ripple.

"What a turn-on, eh?"

"I _don't_ swing _that way." _The easily noticeable blush would've ousted any doubt the words may have caused, that is of course Black Star had even bothered to taken either in, but he was temporarily absorbed with smoldering gold.

"Is that a challenge?"

"Your annoying."

"Is that a yes?" The blue haired man was up out of his seat, nearly overturning his poor chair in the process, before an answer could even be contemplated and that wasn't even a loss really, because Black Star had never liked conversation. He preferred action.

Which is probably why Death the Kid could only look around, wide-eyed, as he was tossed roughly over a muscled shoulder and promptly carried out the front door. He may have also been mouthing something along the lines of 'help me', but all of the onlookers were really too bemused to notice.

Maka faintly attempted to pick her lower jaw off of her boyfriend's, no doubt smirking, head as they both took a moment to climb out of the large potted plant in the corner.

"I told you all of those times Kid offered to keep Black Star company meant something!" Soul exclaimed smugly, brushing a couple stray leaves off of his suit.

"I think my brain just imploded." Maka agreed.

* * *

**This one isn't my fault. It just_ happened. _**

**Thank you blackbloodbaby, Rozale, and magnusrae for reviewing! Thanks for helping me get to eighty reviews guys! And to the one who alerted/favved! I really hope I haven't scarred anyone! *wink***

**P.s I will be launching my new story later. It's a collection of oneshots centering around Chrona (differing genders) and Ragnarök, with some others thrown in for giggles. It'll be called _An Achromatic Shade of Black. _Keep an eye out!**


	26. Theme 35: Hold My Hand

"She wants strawberry!"

"No. Regular."

Maka honestly didn't know why these things always happened to her.

"Who the hell likes _regular_?"

"I do."

"Well, she doesn't!"

Sure, it'd been sweet, albeit slightly awkward, when all of the boys in Shibusen, even Black Star, had suddenly started acting much nicer to her. The flowers she'd started getting weekly had been even sweeter.

"How do you know?"

"I'm her partner! And that means I know that she likes strawberry best!"

Then Soul had started blushing more often in her presence and had developed a weird twitch whenever a boy looked in her direction. And Kid had started staring at her a lot, which just made Soul's twitch worse.

"There is no possible way to eat a strawberry symmetrically!"

And then her classmates even started asking her out! Which wasn't something Maka had really ever dealt with before (and she still thanked her lucky stars every day that Black Star had excused himself from _that_ little activity.)

"Well she's not the one who loves symmetry, is she!"

"Then explain her hair."

And _then _Kid himself had asked her if she wanted to get crêpes with him.

"The pigtails keep it out of her face during a battle, and it was the style that her Mom always said looked best on her."

Then, right after _that_, Soul had asked if she wanted to go to the park with _him_.

"That's sweet."

"It's still not because of symmetry. And stop changing the topic."

So here she was. In the park, in front of a crêpe stand, with two of her best friends, being argued over like she wasn't there, and neither of them seemed very happy with the other.

"I'm not."

"Are too!"

"Are _not_."

Frankly, she was really starting to regret leaving all of her books at home.

"We're not on topic right now, because you changed it!" Soul continued stubbornly.

"Well, I think you changed it." Kid returned and brushed imaginary dirt off of his shirt.

"Don't I get an opinion?" Maka asked lightly.

"Two strawberries, one regular." Soul turned suddenly to the vender, who looked relieved that they were finally ordering and may hopefully leave soon, ignoring Maka and successfully changing Kid's nonchalant expression into instant annoyance.

The girl sighed, apparently she did not.

"He meant two _regulars_, one strawberry."

"No, I _meant_-!"

"You know what, I feel like ice-cream instead." Maka abruptly reached foreword to grab a stunned Soul's hand, that he had raised to point at Kid, before he could protest, then quickly did the same for the sulky shinigami on her other side. A moment later, bright red spread across both their faces and they looked at bit shamed at their actions.

"O-okay…" Soul muttered first, looking away but tightening his hand in Maka's at the same time.

"Whatever you wish." Kid put in a second later, giving the blonde a small smile. It brightened a bit when she returned it, then faded again when she turned to gave one to Soul as well. Maka was glad that she resolved the argument peacefully.

Of course, she did chose to ignore the way they continued to glare at each other for the rest of the night.

The crêpe vender was just relieved to see the back of them.

* * *

**Finally! Got! This! One! Done! **

**Thank you Rozale for reviewing! And to the ones who alerted/favved! *bows***

**For the first time ever I'm asking you guys now, please review! Tell me about how much you hate the coupling and how OOC they are! Whatever! It just really puts me down when only one or two people care enough to give some feedback. **

**P.s. No, I cannot confirm if there is a 'regular' flavored crê pe, I've never had ****crê pe** s.

_Requested by Eurwen de Vrill ._


	27. Theme 25: Trouble Lurking

The classroom was huge. Which was an understatement; it's dimensions were great enough to hold ten times the current amount.

Though, if that were to work, then every person would have to be stacked length-wise atop each other, which wouldn't be very stable at all. Maybe if criss-crossing and side shelves were built all the way up to the top…

Franken huffed and shook the experimental thoughts away before he could get attached enough to actually do it, then languidly tried to tune back into the lesson going on at the classroom's front. Which was probably an impossible feat because he'd already learned everything the fool professor was yammering on about by experience. Plus, books had never managed to hold his attention for very long, especially if it was a textbook.

The young meister sighed and let his head flop onto his folded arms, his ashy green eyes wandering toward one of the many tall windows that interrupted the classroom's walls. Almost instantly he felt his eyelids start to drift close, but he pulled them back up again, fighting the heavy drowsiness that clouded the back of his mind. It wouldn't do to fall asleep in a room full of his peers, like the demon scythe beside him had so tactfully done a half-hour ago. Which was probably a bad thing since Spirit actually needed the schooling.

Franken breathed in deeply once through his nose, idly wondering whether he should wake his partner up and forcing his eyes open again at the same time. He really needed some sort of distraction, which teasing Spirit would give him, but then again…

A quick scan of the room didn't provide much, though he did spot Kami Sato shooting vicious glares at the obliviously snoring redhead beside him from three rows down. Yumi Azusa was sitting next to her avidly taking notes, but ignoring Spirit a little too pointedly. Franken smirked internally, someone was definitely in for a long lecture in the future from the raven-haired freshman, and it wasn't himself for once.

Marie Mjolnir held his attention for a bit. She seemed to be attempting to build a house of cards out of the mission boards' plaques, with her tongue stuck out in extreme focus. Where, or when, she'd gotten said plaques and why nobody had taken them away yet, was beyond him, but either way she was failing miserably.

Sid Barrett was sitting next to Mira Nygus, -who was paying attention, but had her head propped up on one arm- also fast asleep. Though, unlike the scythe, Sid couldn't help it. The knife meister had been running double shifts of recon ever since there had been starting signs of madness stirring in the Star clan's territory. How Mira remained alert was still a mystery.

Franken suspected caffeine.

All of the other students were in varying stages of boredom and none were as alert as Kami, who'd apparently given up on frying Spirit with glowers alone, and Yumi up front. Franken shrugged mentally. It was all the better for him, _Kami_ could be the one to talk Spirit through the homework later.

Franken smiled dreamily at that, taking a few moments to imagine the pain his partner was in for, before rapidly growing bored again.

The scythe technician once again felt his eyelids drift downward as a cicada started singing outside somewhere, but didn't stop them this time. By his past calculations, there was only about a minute of class left anyway. This was only furthered by the way the teacher was quickly rounding off his lecture and the sounds of several books and papers rustling rang throughout the room.

So it came as no surprise when the clanging of Shibusen's bell was immediately followed by a crescendo of footsteps that forced Franken's eyes right back open. Unfortunately, all of the noise also prevented him from hearing the hasty homework assignment that the professor called out before he was the first to leave.

Franken pushed out from his chair and rose, feeling his back pop from sitting so long, then followed the crowd, marveling at the amount of things Spirit could sleep through. The sight of a fast approaching Kami, with Yumi in tow, quickened his step slightly, a dual Kami-Yumi lecture was something _nobody_ could sleep through and he, of course, didn't want to be around for it.

He was on the stairs already when he it occurred to him that he'd have to ask someone for homework. The three behind him were out and Sid and Mira lived far away, so Marie it was. Franken's eyes floated down until they were half-lidded at the thought of filling out another useless worksheet. He groaned lightly under his breath, causing several passing students to give him a wide berth as they left before him, leaving the room empty besides himself and the three, who were causing an increasing amount of noise.

Maybe he could go 'persuade' the professor to excuse him instead. The idea brought a sharp gleam into his eyes. Yes, that would be much better than-

Franken blinked as his shoe caught on something, abruptly cutting off his thoughts. '_Oh.' _

And then, of course, he was sent face-first into the ground by whatever the, soon to be dissected, thing was. The meister lay on the ground for a moment, registering Spirit's faint gurgling in the background and a light pain in his forehead, before he slowly put his hands down on either side, pushed himself up, and turned… to be faced with a doorsill.

A frown instantly covered his face, replacing the brief sadistic look it'd held before, as he realized that a chunk of wood could not -in fact- be dissected, but the sadistic look soon won out again.

"I hope you know, this means war."

Somewhere in the background, Spirit whimpered.

**This needed to be done, I mean, it's the greatest rivalry in Soul Eater! Franken Stein vs. The Doorsill!**

**And I used Franken/Yumi/Mira instead of the usual because it just seems weird, in my opinion, to call kids by their last names all the time.**

**Sorry if this is crap, I don't feel like writing **_**at all.**_


	28. Theme 50: Breaking the Rules

Patti always knew something like this would eventually happen. Sure, she wasn't the smartest broom in the bunch, -just the thought of brooms or bunches made her cackle, after all- but the signs where all over the place like yellow on a giraffe or monster goop after you shoot _BANG, BANG, BANG_! And there she was laughing again, the sound echoing into empty school rooms, even if nobody else got the joke.

Sis would've gotten it, or at least pretended to. Then Kid would tell her to be quiet if he was thinking, and Kid was always thinking, and then Sis would make up a quiet game or they'd go do something fun.

Patti's smile fell into a pout as she blew a raspberry and skidded down another lonely hallway. But, now Sis was too busy out with her new _boyfriend_ and Kiddo was out with his new _girlfriend_, which of course meant that they were out _together_ and Patti wasn't allowed to come.

So, even though she wasn't the sharpest crayon in the box -who'd ever seen a _sharp _crayon _anyway_?- Patti had known this would happen.

Known it when Soul n' Maka started holding hands _all_ the time.

Known it when Black Star actually started _listening _to Tsubaki and _apologizing_ when she asked him to.

Known it when Sis started going places _without _Patti there too.

But, it was okay because Patti didn't _want_ anybody to be there if _they_ didn't want to be there. It was no fun that way because then they'd be such a _pain_, whining all the time and the games just wouldn't be fun anymore.

Of course no games wasn't very fun either, so Patti had to make up new games.

She buzzed down another hallway, -haha_ha, _buzzed like a bee that stings then _BAM!_ gets smooshed- then down some stairs muttering a spy tune and giggling at the imaginary bee guts, pointing her finger at things that didn't explode and pretending they did, because Sis and Kid and _everyone else _were gone so Patti had to make up her own new games. New games that had to be extra fun for only one person, not like shooting or shouting 'cause that was only fun for two.

Patti found a silent place down the stairs and giggled accidentally so that it wasn't so silent anymore. Force of habit, Sis wasn't there to be scared so Patti didn't have to laugh and fill the silence anymore. She covered her mouth and shushed herself mockingly so that it was silent and _dark_ again. Since when did _school _have this many doors down in a basement? That was sooo _dumb_.

But then Patti decided the doors where a good thing because she could open them and _find _stuff which was a whole new game.

Supplies? _Nope~_

Extra Uniforms for the _newbies_? No _way_!

Rooms _full_ of old books, books, and books? _Bo-o-ring~!_

Patti spun in a circle, letting the heavy iron fall closed behind her and snarled at the world. One last door better have something fucking _fun_, or else she'd really blow something _up_! And then the whole place would go up with a big ol' _BOOM_!

Patti guffawed at the mental image that gave her. Then the spikes would go flying and over the place and the towers would fall -crash, _crash!_- and Kiddo would _have_ to bring Sis back because it was so fucking _asymmetrical_!

She giggled again as the last door creaked open to reveal:

Dirty gray walls? Who_ wants _em'?

A dresser? Nothing but wood and nails that went _screeech_ on a chalkboard~

A sink? That goes drip, drip, drip down the _waterspout_!

But, a bed?

Kid didn't like it when she jumped on the bed at home, because it messed things up and made him mad which always made Sis all annoyed too even though _she _just always told Patti that Patti could jump as long as Patti didn't _break_ her neck!

Patti fondly remembered breaking a paper giraffe's neck once as she skipped toward the bed, because this wasn't Kid's house was it? And she wouldn't break her neck like some silly paper giraffe with no brains and only _dull_ crayons in it's head!

One jump, two jumps, three jumps! Patti giggled wildly and jumped off, skidding on a discarded shoe and coming to a stop at the wall.

"Ummm…" Her cackling stopped abruptly. Now that she remembered it, the bed didn't have a pillow on it, did it? Why wouldn't a _bed_ have a _pillow_? That just wasn't right _at all_!

Patti shuffled so that she was sitting up, no quite in the corner but close, squished next to something warm and bony with her blue eyes creased in concentration, because she had to get the pillow back or else that game would be over.

She looked up. The warm, bony, dark-eyed kid behind her squeaked.

"Oi, you!" Chrona could fly, right? And Patti could take Chrona out and they could fly and shout and shoot and maybe even find a giraffe somewhere? Then the pillow could be left there exactly and precisely like Kid always said was the perfect way!

"Come with me, motherfucker!"

"Wha-?"

Because Patti had forgotten that Chrona wasn't _together_ either, but now she remembered so they could both be _together _together now, right?

Right.

* * *

**Yes, they _do_ get weirder. **

**I really, really like writing Patti's character. Only question, do you think she's in character?**

**Thank you Shenzuul for reviewing! And to those who alerted/favved!**


	29. Theme 97: Safety First

"_Okay, review." Half-lidded, deep gold eyes flicked up into determined icy blue. "What would be the cure if a student came to you with a headache?"_

"_Check for a temperature. If there isn't one, give the patient an acetaminophen tablet and send them away." Came the prompt answer._

"_If there is a temperature?"_

"_Check for other symptoms of illness and the severity of them, then proceed as needed."_

"_For a common stomachache?"_

"_Antacid and water."_

"_And if a student has been bitten by a desert snake?" The older nurse switched off instantly, giving the younger a brief pause._

"…_Ascertain the species of snake and inject the antivenin needed?"_

"_Before that?"_

"_Cleanse the area and apply a tourniquet." Was the response, sounding sure now._

"_Well done. Now, what if a student came in with a limb completely severed by a kinshin attack?"_

"_Check to see if the student is in shock, disinfect the area, then apply morphine before-"_

"_And?" At the younger's questioning look, the elder elaborated. "Before giving the patient morphine, there is one more thing you should do, Mira."_

_Nygus' forehead creased at this and she looked at the bandages on her hands in concentration. A minute passed, then two. "Excuse me Medusa-sensei, I do not know what I left out."_

"_In that situation, a tourniquet would also be helpful to staunch the bleeding." Medusa leaned foreword with a kind smile at the younger women's downcast expression. "Though, their partner or the person who transported them would most likely have applied a crude one at that point, so it is an easy thing to leave out or forget until the situation is at hand."_

_Nygus nodded and lifted her head again, eyes bright as her teacher leaned back again and shook a finger playfully. "Just don't forget it when the time _does _come!"_

_She let out a chuckle and Nygus smiled, breaking her usual indifferent expression for her favorite teacher. Even though Medusa-sensei was only a few years her senior, the demon weapon could already sense the respect growing in her at the women's vast knowledge and steady calm. It were those things that had inspired her to become a nurse too after all._

"Nygus! Ny-…"

"_Don't worry Medusa-sensei, I'll make sure not to…"_

"-gus!"

'_Hm?' _She shook her head once and tried to block out the noise, Medusa-sensei was saying something-…

"Nygus! Wake up, it's time to initiate the next step in operation 'Majo' !" Instantly, icy blue eyes, now hardened and cold, snapped open and the women got to her feet, and reality, in the same moment. She tried to focus on her partner's words.

"I thought the area hadn't been discovered yet?" Nygus quickly began tightening the bandages she wore and grabbing articles from around her tiny apartment, sparing her blue-skinned partner only a brief glance and shaking the sleep from her rigid shoulders.

"The scouts have just located it and reported twenty minutes ago. You and I have been released for preliminary reconnaissance." Nygus nodded once, that was all the information she needed.

"Are you ready, Sid?" The zombie man gave her a thumbs up, breaking the tension for the moment.

"I was the kind of man to always be ready for situations like this!" Nygus' eyes softened and she smiled under her wrappings as she followed him out the door, letting it shut behind her, but her expression hardened as she quickened to stride beside her meister down the bare hall.

This was the opportunity she'd been waiting for since that night nearly two months ago and the complete betrayal of Shibusen by the revealed snake witch Medusa. Her one chance for revenge.

The weapon's eyes fell into slits and her hand strayed to the knife at her belt. There would be no forgiveness.

'_I'll see you soon now, Medusa-sensei…'_

**So, uh… The thought occurred to me yesterday, (when I was scrambling for oneshot ideas because I had **_**nothing**_**) if Nygus is the nurse **_**now**_** and Medusa was the nurse **_**then**_**- wouldn't Medusa have trained Nygus or something? **

**And so, this was born!**

**And, about last chapter, you guys are all as weird as I am! I will probably be writing another Patti/Chrona, but I don't know when and I don't know how.**

**Thank you Shenzuul, Satashi of the Muffins, blackbloodbaby, 2random4words, magnusrae, angelina100, Hiezen Uchiha for reviewing, and to the ones who alerted/favved! *bows***

**Warning: The medical information in this fan-fiction was researched and guessed at by a non-medical student not yet out of high school. If you choose to apply any of this remedies or advice without a proper professional opinion, my story and I are not liable for any resulting death or injury. Thank you!**

***hehehe***


	30. Theme 21: Vacation

Soul scowled and shoved his hands into the pockets of his navy swim trunks with a bit more force then was actually necessary, then took one out and brushed at his, free from their band for once, over-long bangs irritably. This movement caused a small rain of sand that cascaded straight into his face and made the teen growl loudly, then scrub at his eyes and head furiously in response.

In his opinion, this whole thing was a stupid, un-cool waste of time. Which was really unusual, considering the fact that the scythe would characteristically take any opportunity that allowed him to skip out on school work. Which is what the vacation _was_, Soul grumbled mentally, turning to briefly take in the scenic beach behind him.

Crystal clear, aqua-blue waters stretched all across the horizon in a gentle slope, tipped by pure white where smooth waves crested the surface and slid onto the pale, sandy beach with barely a ripple. The only place where the peace was remotely disturbed was the small area of towels and teenagers where both the sand and water were being tossed around by the antics of his fellow Shibusen students.

Even as Soul watched, both Black Star and Patti emerged from under the surf and instantly began what seemed to be a heated argument, ending with Black Star's blue head getting dunked into the salt water by the demented pistol. The scythe probably would've laughed, but he was still sore at the younger Thompson for earlier.

To accent the thought, some left-over sand graduals from his thick, albino locks fell and bounced off his nose… straight into his eyes. The poor teen instantly began a whole new hiss-fit as his retinas burned with a whole new ferocity and cursed Patti for his luck.

It'd all started when his meister, and Chrona, had taken too long when they'd gone to get a towel at the beach house. Tsubaki had been the first to notice -besides Soul himself, who'd been silently checking the path every other moment for over five minutes- and had informed Black Star worriedly. The assassin had then made sure everyone else knew with his big mouth, and Liz had nominated Soul to walk the hundred-something yards back to the house to see what was taking them.

He had, of course, reasonably refused -she was probably just reading or something, like the nerd-girl she was- and instantly gotten chewed out by Liz, guilt-tripped by Kid, and lastly, pelted with sand by Patti.

The weapon whipped around, shaking away the fresh memories, and moodily started sulking up the wood plank-marked path up to the beach house, attempting to kick a sea-shell and succeeding in stubbing his toe on the way.

On the other hand, this could all be considered Maka's fault in the first place, including all the reasons why he couldn't properly enjoy his vacation.

Soul shuddered, despite the blazing sun above, when he felt a slight breeze on his still-damp hair and frowned as he thought back through the week the group had already spent in this coastal village. It wasn't really the things Maka was doing, it was the things she _wasn't_ doing that got to him. The weapon wouldn't admit it to anyone else, but he'd long gotten used to spending every waking moment with the blonde, but, during this trip, he could count on one hand the amount of hours they'd spent together. They even slept in separate beach houses!

The weapon muttered under his breath as he thought back to the ones who _had _gotten Maka's attention. Those local boys had learned pretty quick exactly whose meister they were flirting with… Soul cracked his knuckles and grinned slightly at the memory, hoping to shinigami that Maka never found out in the same moment.

Though, Maka still hadn't spent much time with him particularly, even after the boys were 'taken care of', Soul huffed as he finally reached the top of the hill and reached out a hand to undo the gate's latch. After they were gone it was all 'Chrona's going to get sunstroke in those clothes', or 'Chrona doesn't know how to swim', or "Raganarok's going to drown Chrona if he keep doing that-!'

Well… okay, the last one had been alarming for him too, but it was still annoying how the black-blood user had been following Maka around like a stray puppy from the first moment they'd gotten here, he grimaced, finally undoing the latch and looking up to take in one of the two picturesque little villa's Lord Death had gotten for them.

Which, inevitably -seeing as this was Lord Death-, had happened completely without their knowing.

One day, a week ago on the dot, the nine of them, counting Raganarok, had found themselves rudely awakened at five in the morning, shoved into a tiny plane, and halfway to the Caribbean for some 'rest and relaxation' by the time they'd come to their senses. He grinned mentally at the memory.

Of course everyone knew the real reason for the trip, and it wasn't 'relaxation'. Lord Death just wanted his OCD son and certain destructive assassin out of the way for a bit so that a, very recently destroyed, portion of Shibusen could be quickly rebuilt without any snags. So, now they all had to hang here for another week of random activities and beach-y 'fun'. The thought brought him back full circle to his missing meister.

'_At least Chrona is definitely with her.'_ A hopeful part of him piped up, making Soul grimace again, but agree. He was pretty sure that, if anything, the demon sword's phobia of anything and everything would keep any local boy who _hadn't _learned their lesson away. And if it didn't, Raganarok certainly would.

He crossed the small yard in four long strides, then leapt up onto the light, smooth wood stairs of the villa's porch easily, making no sound with his bare feet. Hopefully, he could get both Maka and Chrona soon before-

Suddenly, a small, tentative voice from behind the cracked-open doors before him interrupted his thoughts.

"Did you g-get it?" The gender-neutral tones of Chrona stuttered more then asked.

"Yeah!" Soul instantly recognized his partner's voice as she responded, despite the fact that she sounded a bit further away. "It took forever, didn't it?"

"Why's it so s-small?" The weapon outside moved closer as he heard faded footsteps approaching.

"Well you don't need a big one do you?" Maka answered laughingly as Soul's eyes widened.

"What about Raganarok?"

"He's fine without it." Maka chuckled again.

"Okay. A-ah, Maka, your hands are c-cold." Soul froze, then stepped back from where he'd been about to step closer. What the hell were they doing in there!

"Don't worry, you'll be warm soon."

"Y-yeah." Soul felt his eye twitch as blood started rushing to his head. Chrona was a girl right? He'd been so sure when he'd seen the swimsuits they'd gotten yesterday… but, then those could have been for one of the others-! Or, maybe he'd been right after all and Chrona _was _a girl…

The scythe regretted the thought as soon as it came as the unavoidable mental images flooded his mind.

"I-it feels nice."

"I think it's supposed to." Maka assured. Soul cursed his body as a blood vessel finally burst and he was rewarded with a raging nose-bleed, which didn't help the _other _problems he was having at the moment. "Ah, Chrona you skin is _so_ soft!"

"T-thank you?" Soul held his nose and tried to stop hyperventilating on the porch. _'This has gone on long enough!' _was his last thought before he brutally shoved the door open and burst into the villa's main room with all alarms blaring.

"MAKA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING-" Wait. Soul blinked. "in… here..?" The weapon screeched to a grinding halt and felt the door, which had been broken in his rush, wobble under his feet.

This was not what he'd expected. At. All.

Chrona sat on her folded knees in the middle of the floor looking up at him, terrified, in a pitch black one-piece swimsuit that he'd definitely seen in the stacks of them they'd brought home the other day. Maka sat behind her with a shocked, quickly turning angry, look on her face with one hand on Chrona's exposed back and the other holding-

"Sunscreen?" Soul squeaked, staring slack-jawed at the tiny bottle of complementary sunscreen that had been placed in every bathroom that both rented villas had. Maka's growing anger tapered a bit at his shell-shocked posture.

"Yeah." She raised a brow. "We came up and found my towel in about ten minutes, but then Raganarok came up and said that Chrona would probably shrivel up and burn in the sun." She rolled her green eyes. "Chrona said that she wouldn't know how to deal with sunburn, so we've been spending all of this time searching for the sun-block.

She stopped to glare at the bottle in her hand. "It was in Kid's bathroom aligned symmetrically with the shampoo." She huffed. "I'll get him for that later. And I was just starting to help put it on when you ran in and busted the door!"

Her ire returned full force with the reminder and she eyed the broken door beneath his feet pointedly, then looked up to take in the remnants of his nosebleed and the flush covering his face.

"What did you think we were doing?" Soul blushed even harder, if it was possible, turned to stagger back out the door again.

"N-nothing. You should hurry up though, Tsubaki was worried and… Um."

**Madness? THIS IS FINALS WEEK!**

**So, uh, yeah. Madness. = Sorry for the late update!**

**And for the fail chapter.**

**Thank you Shenzuul, waiting-for-you443, Lacrow, Satashi of the Muffins, blackbloodbaby, and Kountry101 for reviewing! And to those who favved/alerted! *bows***


	31. Theme 24: No Time

"Four packages of fluorescent light bulbs, two cans of Death-Bucks brand coffee, two small cartons of eggs, two liters of milk, twenty small white candles, six large white candles-" Death the Kid paused briefly in his monologue to look over the list in his hand once again, then made use of the pencil in one hand and corrected it aloud. "_eight_ large white candles, accounting for the two Patti broke this morning…" Then, he leaned back to look over his handiwork.

All of the even numbers running in a row down the page made his eyes sparkle as he imagined all of the fresh-bought, perfectly identical products that would soon be lining the hallways and cabinets of Gallows Mansion - rendering them flawlessly symmetrical. It almost made him squirm with excitement.

Now, if only he could get Patti to stop knocking things over, then everything wouldn't have to be replaced so often. The shinigami sighed as he got back on track and continued on his way toward the main hall. It wasn't a problem with money, but having empty space - or, god-forbid, an _uneven_ amount of items - in the meantime made his brain itch.

He grumbled at the problem mentally as he finally pushed open the heavy mahogany doors and stepped onto the white tile of the entrance hall - then paused. As always, the paintings hung on both sides perfectly aligned with each other, as monotone as ever, and both sets of coat racks were arranged next to their respective, identical umbrella stands accordingly. It was just the lost-looking figure standing in the middle of the red carpet that threw him for a loop.

"Maka!" He exclaimed, recognizing her signature pigtails instantly - though her usual trench coat, yellow vest (and combat boots) were strangely absent, leaving her in just a plain white dress shirt, red plaid skirt, and socks. She started at his outburst, blinking a couple of times before focusing on his face with visible effort.

"Kid?" He took a few strides foreword, expression quickly morphing into worry, as she tried to take a step and stumbled, looking lost again. "I was looking for you, glad you're here though." She smiled vaguely and leaned on him when he grabbed her elbows for support.

"Where else would I be?" His brow creased. "And weren't you supposed to be having an extra-curricular class with Black Star and Tsubaki for the next few days? Did you get back early?"

"Something… like that." She hummed, struggling to phrase the words. Kid looked around.

"Is Soul with you?" The two were almost inseparable, after all, maybe Soul could tell him what was up with Maka… Kid bit his lip. Next to him, for the first time Maka's eyes began to lose some of their lucidity at his words and an unintelligible emotion crossed the green orbs for a moment before it was gone again.

"No, he's not. He's still somewhere else… Listen!" She cut in quickly, as he tried to speak again, rapidly losing the haze that'd apparently taken over her mind till now. "I don't have much time-"

"Why, do you have to leave again? Is father sending you out so soon after you got back?" Kid cut in, seriously worried now as she shook her head furiously.

"No, no. Stop, you have to listen and pass this onto everybody!" She covered his mouth as more questions tried to pour out. "Tell them I'm sorry. Tell them that it wasn't their fault-!"

"Maka, I don't understand, why don't you tell them yourse- Maka!" Kid slowly, in the back of his mind, noticed his shopping list flutter to the floor, but was too preoccupied with his collapsing friend to pick it up and fix the symmetry.

"You have to make them understand, especially S-Soul." Her partner's name brought that mysterious emotion back to her face, but this time is stayed long enough to allow Kid to recognize it. Grief. Unimaginable grief mixed with despair and loss that wrenched his heart and made him go cold inside.

"Tell him to live on, Kid, please, for me! Tell Black Star and Tsubaki - Liz, Patti, everyone - they were the b-best friends I could've ever asked for-!" A dam seemed to break inside her as she spoke and her hands gripped his like a life-line. "Find M-mama and let her know I don't blame her! For a-anything! Papa too and-!"

Then something seemed to click in her mind and the lucid haze came back in a heartbeat.

"Oh, times up… huh?"

Kid faintly realized he was trembling as she let go of him, smiling again in the vague way, patted his arm and rose to her feet, perfectly stable.

He watched wide-eyed, unmoving, as she picked up his list and pencil and set the neatly in his empty hands.

And the first of a few tears started in the corners of little Death's eyes as his god's brain put all of it together and took in the other-worldly glow cloaking her figure as she walked toward the door and pulled it open.

"Just… don't forget me, alright?" With one last angel's grin, Maka - scythe meister level one, fifteen-year-old girl who wanted to be just like her mama, friend, best-friend, daughter, role-model, straight-A student, dreamer, proud partner, and _so much more _- dissipated in a flash of light that left only an empty carpet, an empty doorway, and an empty child broken on the floor.

But, that's what it means to be a God.

_Right?_

* * *

**Sorry for the late update all, I couldn't think of anything to write.**

**Thank you magnusrae and DeathsDragon for reviewing! And to the ones who alerted/favved!**


	32. Theme 96: In the Storm

Soul? Hey, Soul- Ouch!"

"Oi, Maka! Be careful…" Apparently his warning came too late, as the weapon heard a crash and then his miester's growl of annoyance coming from somewhere down and to his left. "What happened?"

"I fell." She growled, gasping when his leg hit her thigh, but accepted his hand when he felt for hers and pulled her to her feet. "Did the power go out?"

"Yeah." Soul blinked blindly in the darkness and attempted to find the couch, Maka at his back. "I guess this storm is worse than we thought.

As if to accent his point, the tempest outside let loose a monstrous roar that covered Soul's snarl when he finally found the couch - with his shins. "Be careful of the coffee table."

"Shut up, I know this place like the back of my hand." Maka sniffed, then hissed when she stubbed her toe anyway. She could practically feel Soul's smirk as they both sat down and she assessed the damage.

"Hah, what was that Ms. Know-it-all?" He asked jokingly. "Thought you knew this place like the back of your hand? But, then again you do wear gloves all the time…"

"Don't make me chop you." Maka warned. Soul stiffened for a moment, before he relaxed again.

"Ha, you can't when it's so dark!" His meister frowned, realizing he was right, but made up for it by feeling out his arm and punching it, hard.

"Yowch! Damn, that hurt worse than the fricken' Maka-chop…"

"Oh? Maybe I should start doing that instead then, hmm?" Maka asked sweetly and Soul shifted away in panic.

"No way! I'll take my chances with the books, thanks!"

"Then stop being a jerk." Maka retorted icily. A minute passed, then another.

"I… am really bored right now."

"Find something to do!" Maka said, leaving out the fact that she was bored as well. It was impossible to read a book or do _anything_ in this light…

"There _isn't_ anything to do until the power comes on!" Soul pointed out loudly, agreeing with her thoughts.

"Well, then… I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 100..."

"42?" Soul guessed and laughed when she sighed. "Seriously? That's so predictable!"

"Well, then you think of something." Maka challenged hotly.

"Alright," He was quiet for a moment, "On last night's homework… what was the answer to question ten?"

"B - no, wait! That isn't a game! That's just you cheating, Soul!" She socked him again and he groaned in pain.

"It was worth a shot…"

"Do you have any other bright ideas, stupid?"

"None as good as that one… I'm totally going to fail this assignment…" He muttered, making Maka snarl loudly with the intent to harm in her voice. "Ahahahaaaa… Kidding, Maka. I was only kidding. Please put the pillow down…"

Thankfully, Soul felt her put down the pillow she'd wrenched from under his arm and let out a sigh of relief. Yes, usually pillows weren't considered lethal; but this was Maka, so he felt the fear was rightfully justified.

Another round of silence…

"Let's play a guessing game or something. It's better than sitting here in the dark!" Maka conceded first, making Soul grin as he realized she was just as bored as he was.

"Alright, I'm thinking of an animal…"

"Is it a mammal?" Maka asked instantly, making Soul smile.

"Yeah."

"Does it walk around on four legs?"

"Nope."

"Two?"

"Usually."

"Does it talk?"

"Unfortunately."

"….Is it Black Star?" Instantly, Soul started laughing uproariously and Maka was glad that the darkness covered her blush.

"No, but your close." He chuckled.

"Hmmm…" Maka's brow scrunched up as she thought. '…_Mammal that walks on two legs, is unfortunately capable of speech and isn't Black Star…'_

"Excalibur?"

"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!" Soul clapped once. "Now its your turn."

"Alright, I'm thinking of a person."

"Is is a girl?"

"No." Soul frowned, well that threw out all the ones he'd been thinking of. Except maybe Chrona…

"Are they nice to be around?"

"No way!" Well, that threw out Chrona. Maka adored the kid.

"Do we know them well?"

"Yes."

"Is it someone we hang out with often?"

"Yeah."

"By our own choice?"

"Nope."

"Raganarok?" Soul snickered.

"You guessed it." Maka agreed wirily.

"Your so mean to the little blob." The weapon laughed, earning a half-hearted punch from his meister as a result.

"Well, what did Excalibur ever do to you?"

"He was immensely annoying in my immediate area." Soul grinned, then blinked and covered his eyes when the lights abruptly decided to start working again with a load humming noise. "Power's on."

"Thanks for stating the obvious." Maka mumbled, rubbing her eyes as well, before getting to her feet and shooting the coffee table a glare. "Ramen for dinner?"

"Sounds awesome, is it my turn or yours?" Soul got his feet as well, stretching and straightening a stand that had gotten knocked over in Maka's earlier tumble.

"Hmmm, mine I think."

"Cool," he smiled, "'twas nice talking with you, but I think I'll go make sure the stereo still works after that bout of electrical trauma."

"Hmmm, have fun." Maka cheered distractedly, already lost in her pursuit of foodstuffs.

* * *

**Yes, that was the most pointless Soul and Maka fic you've ever read. No, I will not give you those wasted minutes of precious lifetime back. Just think of the time I spent writing it!**

**This fic was spawned by the fact that out power went out briefly last night and I had to sit up for twenty minutes waiting for my fan to come back on because its way too hot to sleep without it.**

**Thank you WRITING IS TIRESOME YEAH, Shenzuul, eunice is beast, DeathsDragon, and magnusrae for reviewing! And to the ones who favved/alerted!**


	33. Theme 41: Teamwork

_Swing to the right. Parry, then bring the blade around, swing, and kick._

Maka had heard their fighting techniques described as a type of dance before.

She's heard her complex acrobatics - the flips, slashes, and jumps that she'd proudly spent years perfecting - compared to a dancer's way of twisting around in the air in an endless, impressive array. Even his unwavering attention to the minute changes in balance and weight whilst they fought together had been declared the same as a performer's.

Plus the way they put this together, in sync at all times…

Though, in hindsight, this observation was usually only made by tender, fresh Shibusen students who'd yet to see battle even once in their short lives and still spoke with that sort of unwavering awe in their voices.

_Flip back and push off with his handle. Bring the blade up, block and thrust _- 'Watch out for his claws!' - 'Like I wasn't!' - _retreat and return on the defensive. _

She'd never seen it that way.

The term 'partners' was still loose in describing what they were in the first place. It was still the best they'd found so far, but they were in no way _dance_ partners.

'That is, unless you consider dancing life threatening and incredibly dangerous.' She could hear his snicker somewhere through their link, but ignored it.

_Twirl to the right_ - 'He's coming up, be prepared.' - _lunge to the left, slash and-! _

What the had... It was more like a mesh of opposite things that nobody could put into one exact term. Though, they had twisted around with comrades for awhile, before she'd decided it was way too impersonal for her tastes.

'Especially when you refuse to consider me anything less than a person whilst we're fighting.' He hinted with a bit of exasperation, ignoring her snort and wincing as they were both showered with demon blood.

_Enemy's still alive, but barely. Inch foreword, _- 'Carefully, he's starting to realize he won't win.' _- run in for the finish, and raise the blade from the ground... _

The were indescribable, she'd conclude with far off eyes and a shake of her pigtails.

But, they'd use partners because it sounded way less cheesy and much more cool, he'd agree with that sarcastic, sharp-toothed grin of his.

"Your soul is mine."

* * *

**This is really bad, I know, but it was, once again, all I could think of. Plus, my birthday's coming up and I'm really distracted because of that.**

…

**Okay, several people have been asking about chapter 31 and what actually happened in it, - don't feel bad about that, it was supposed to be vague - so I'm going to explain what happened a little:**

**Maka was in an accident. Whether something happened during a fight, or on the way back, you can decide, but it was fatal.**

**I have always considered Maka a very strong-willed and friend-oriented person. Add to that the fact that she's close to a death god and I believe her soul would find a way to pull through and stay on Earth for a while longer to find someone who could still see her soul, Kid, and pass on any final wishes. **

**But, the afterlife works in weird ways, hence the 'Time's up?' at the end. She can't have all of the time in the world before she has to move on.**

**So, that's the story! Hope I cleared it up a bit.**

**Thank you waiting-for-you443, Shenzuul, blackbloodbaby, Alik Takeda, magnusrae, and The Illusionist's Wings04 for reviewing! And to those who favved/alerted! *bows***


	34. Theme 66: Traps

Gold eyes took in the prize before him with a cat-like aura of nonchalance that completely hid the true fervor burning through his small chest.

Just a little further… then it'd all be his… and all of the preparations that'd been made all for _this_ moment would be worth it. He would've purred in satisfaction if it wouldn't have given away his position to his unsuspecting target.

One tiny handhold after another, the toddler managed to pull himself the rest of the way up to his precarious perch - only wobbling once as he reach the peak and steadied himself, glad that he was the only thing that wiggled and his foothold stayed firm as he slowly rose to he feet..

He stood for a moment, perfectly still and silent, and watched the figure below take one step backward, then another. This was his chance!

A fierce, miniature growl of attack rang through the large room and hung for a second, before a much deeper and much more fierce yowl of surprise and pain overshadowed it.

Spirit Albarn followed his instincts and shook his head around wildly for a moment, before he realized that the little legs dangling in front of his eyes _didn't_ belong to a wild animal of some sort and that the black shorts, socks, and shoes clothing the chubby appendages actually looked kind of familiar… He straightened and sighed, face tinting red when he realized how idiotic he must look, before he reached up and pried the child from his cranium with a bit of difficulty.

"Stop it mith'ta Deathseeth!" The black-haired toddler protested instantly, but allowed himself to be pulled back, pouting irritably. Spirit mirrored the look.

"Kiddo, what are you doing?" He asked wearily.

"Your cluths were off-center." Kid lisped and jabbed his index finger at Spirit's collar for emphasis. Spirit looked down and groaned, then straitened his tie dramatically.

"Better?"

"Lemme do it!" Kid insisted, face set in determination. Spirit groaned but pulled the kid closer, adjusting his hold as needed, and let Death's son do what he wanted - knowing from hard experience that a tantrum would be the sure result if he refused. "There."

"All good now?" Spirit asked, annoyance slipping away despite himself as death's son leaned back with a smug expression that was reminiscent of Maka's when she figured out a new word.

"All good." Kid smiled, showing off his pearly whites contentedly. Spirit took the chance to observe the place that Kid had decided to attack him from and raised a brow.

"How'd you get up there anyway? Your dad's mirror is pretty tall…" Kid blinked and pointed around the side in answer. Spirit went obediently and chuckled at what he found. All of the record book and documents that Lord Death usually kept in a dresser behind his platform had been taken out and stacked atop each other - making a tower just tall enough to allow Kid to get to the top of the mirror.

"Jeez, what's your pop gonna say? Probably 'that's my Kiddo~!' or something like that." He huffed, answering his own question even as he walked back around to the mirror's front - deciding to let the paperwork sit until his could rope some trainees into putting it back. "Right little guy?"

He bounced the little boy in his arms once, smiling when Kid only nodded once and laid his black fuzz covered head on Spirit's chest sleepily, realizing that all of that hard work must've tuckered the kid out. The weapon hummed then, and shifted back and forth slowly - aiding the child on his way to dreamland.

"You two look so cute, Spirit-kun~" Suddenly a nasally voice from behind made Spirit jump, but he managed not to wake Kid up - much too used to Shinigami's random entrances to be really surprised. "Thanks for watching Kiddo for me today~"

"No problem, I did lose him for awhile there, though." Spirit confessed, following Shinigami's lead and speaking in a whisper and turning to watch the death god phase out of the large mirror like it was the most natural thing in the world. Which, for him, it was.

"Aww, Kiddo's a big boy. I'm sure you did your best~" Shinigami assured him, leaning down to examine his sleeping son for a moment, before he held out his huge hands to take the boy. "And I'm also sure your rearing to get back to Maka-chan, eh~?"

"Am I!" Spirit grinned widely, handing the boy off and managing not to wake him in the process. "And my dearest Kami says we still have time to go to the pool for awhile if I hurry!"

"Good luck teaching Maka-chan to doggy-paddle~!" Shinigami called playfully as Spirit turned away and nearly jogged to the door.

"Are you kidding? My little angel will be stroking like a pro by closing time!" Spirit sniffed, but with a smile on his face, and made his exit - whistling excitedly.

Shinigami smiled too, behind his mask, and made his way over to sit in a large chair that was placed near the mirror. He gave his sleeping son a thoughtful look.

"Maybe it's about time you learned to swim too, huh~?"

Kid just mumbled unintelligibly in response.

* * *

**Cute baby Death the Kid is cute.**

**Sorry for the fail ending, I couldn't thing of anything else.**

**Thank you The Illusionist's Wings04, waiting-for-you443, magnusrae, and DeathsDragon for reviewing *especially to the ones who wished me a happy birthday*! And to the ones who alerted/favved!**


	35. Theme 69: Annoyance

"Come on, it is not _that_ funny!" The, usually suave voice squeaked indignantly for a moment, before it's owner cleared his throat and tried again. "This is a natural process that all men must go through before they reach-"

He had to stop with a growl of annoyance as his voice once again betrayed him and skittered up a few octaves - sending his partners into a whole new wave of uncontrolled giggling. "Seriously you two! Stop being so immature about this!"

"Oh, for Lord Death's sake! Please stop talking!" Liz Thompson chortled, tears of laughter threatening to spill from her blue eyes. "You sound like a freakin' twelve your old with a nasal disease!"

"There are no such things as nasal diseases, Elizabeth-" Kid tried to intervene sternly - which would've been a difficult task normally. Throw in his new, puberty-related problem and it became nearly impossible.

"Who swallowed a squeaky toy!" Patti interrupted as if he'd never spoken and allowed her sister to lean on her for support as they both started on another laughing spree.

"It isn't that bad!" Kid huffed, aghast to find that he was actually blushing with embarrassment. If his two partners were this amused by his voice changing, what would the rest of the student body at Shibusen think? Black Star was going to have a field day with this!

"Oh, it's bad." Liz assured him with a grin, then seemed to notice her miester's growing horror and worked on swallowing her humor.

"My reputation will be ruined! What will father say?" Kid gasped, sinking into one of his fits - for once not over symmetry - and to the ground at the same time.

"He'll probably bust his brains out laughing!" Patti suggested cheerfully and Kid let out a wail.

"It's no use, I'm garbage, throw me into the gutter…" He sniffled dramatically, the squeak only making it that much more pitiful. Liz sighed and knelt down, Patti following obediently

"Naw, Kid - your not garbage! Look at how symmetrical your clothes are today!"

"What does it matter? My voice will distract anyone who tries to admire the perfection of it!" Kid sniffled. Liz looked at Patti helplessly.

"If everybody's laughing at your voice, then they won't notice your stripes anymore, right?" The younger Thompson gave it a shot, but Kid just grabbed his head in horror.

"The stripes! Now I look and _sound_ horrible!" He sobbed. "Don't look at me! I deserve to die!"

Unperturbed by her failure, Patti giggled at the funny faces he was making whilst Liz grumbled and looked at a random clock hanging on a lamppost across the street. They had roughly twenty minutes to get to school, but this newest tantrum looked like it could last awhile - especially since Kid's voice was still squeaking…

'_Black Star is definitely going to razz him for this, and the idiot might even be able to pull Soul into the bullying circle - depending on how close Maka is…' _The older Thompson mused and let her eyes wander as she thought. _'That'll be another hour or two…' _She sighed self-pityingly as she realized that that meant no after-school shopping trips today.

Miesters-before-mini-malls had definitely been one of the lessons most forcefully pounded into her since day one. She pouted, absently patting Kid's head as he continued to rant about his worthlessness, and glanced at the many knick-knacks displayed in the window of the store across the way.

'_Maybe if I-' _The half-formed thought stuck in her mind as her eyes latched onto one particular object in the display. '_That… might actually work.'_

"Watch him for me Patti." Liz ordered lightly - acknowledging her sister's 'Okie-dokie, Sis!' and salute, before she got up and darted into the store - making sure to slip Kid's wallet out of his pocket with the ease of experience before she did so.

A minute later she returned with a triumphant smile.

"Hey, Kid, look!" It took a few tries before the young Shinigami would pull his tear-stained face out from under the trashcan lid that he'd gotten from who knows where, but Liz got him to do it.

"A marker board?" He muttered and Liz shook her head.

"Not just any marker board, _your_ marker board." She held it up like a salesperson. " Note the completely symmetrical skull design and sleek monotone colors!"

"Yes, the are magnificent," Kid agreed, "but, why do I need a marker board?"

"Because," Liz started, folding Kid's hands around the dry-erase board and single black marker in her hand. "your voice is broken."

"But, my voice isn't-"

"Actually, your throat is sore. So sore, in fact, that you can't talk today. Maybe not even tomorrow. Maybe not all week!" Liz raised a brow expectantly and Kid's gold eyes finally lit up with realization a moment before a wide grin spread across his face.

"Liz, you are simply brilliant."

"I know." She returned his grin and flipped her hair back in a fake show of haughtiness as she got to her feet. "Now, c'mon. We've spent a good ten minutes here and I'm pretty sure Stien said that the next person late to his class was going to have to dissect their _own _appendix to make up for it."

She shuddered and helped Kid up while Patti giggled in the background at the mental image she got.

"Thank y-" Kid began as they all started walking down the cobbled street toward the far-off D.W.M.A.

"Nah-ah-ah." Liz tisked and tapped the board with one manicured nail. "That was a good five bucks, better make use of it now."

Kid rolled his eyes, but complied - finishing his sentence in writing form.

"Your welcome." She answered simply, then blinked when Kid quickly went back to writing.

'_Liz, did you steal my wallet again?' _

As an answer, the older Thompson just threw her head back and laughed.

**Yes, I do realize that it takes Kid over an hour to write the first three letters of his name. Shut up, at least you're getting a chapter!**

**I'm really far from home right now, homesick, out of my comfortable writing area, typing on a **_**laptop**_** of all things (no offense to laptop owners) and when I sat down here I was actually planning to write you guys a long, detailed, excuse-filled note on why I **_**couldn't**_** write you a chapter. **

**This happened instead.**

**The b and 0 and ) and shift keys are broken on this keyboard. It irks me.**

**Hope you enjoyed!**

**Thank you: SakuandSyao-CLAMPGirlForever, Thesimplelife12345, and DeathsDragon for reviewing! And to the ones who favved/alerted!**

**BTW: Remember way back when, when I said I'd continue my Chrona/Patti in another oneshot? Well, I don't think I'm going to get it done… but, I DID make a Chrona/Patti AMV awhile back and I've been meaning to tell you guys, but I keep forgetting.**

**Follow the link on my profile to my youtube and browse through the Short Vids playlist to find it! And sub while your at it!**

***Longest Author's note EVER!**


	36. Theme 27: Foreign

"Hey, Kid, pass me that can."

"This one?" Red eyes watched as the other boy's hand landed on the pop can's lid and he nodded once before reeling back comically when Kid went to throw the open can at him. "Jeez! Don't throw it!" He scowled when Kid started laughing and took the can irritably, realizing the Shinigami'd been faking.

"Relax, Soul." Kid smirked and nudged the weapon with a closed fist, then opened his own drink can. Soul stopped frowning so heavily, but he was still scowling a little as he opened a bag of chips and pressed the game console's 'on' button.

"Easy for you to say. Maka would literally _kill_ me if we stained the carpet." He lowered his tone for the last part and shot a worried glance at his miester's closed door as if just speaking her name would bring her stampeding out to check on him. Actually, knowing Maka, it might.

"No, we wouldn't want that." Kid frowned and shuddered a little, trying to wrap his mind around the horrific asymmetry of a stained carpet. Soul quirked a brow, but was way too used to Kid's weirdness to comment. He picked up two game controllers and tossed on to the other boy by way of distraction. On the table, the third controller remained as a physical reminder of their friends absence.

"Sucks that 'Star couldn't make it this time." Soul lamented, looking at the controller as the screen lit up with the racing game's logo.

"Mmmm-hmm, but he did sound excited about the Kishin Massacre in Nicaragua." Kid said and selected a virtual character who was decked out in black gear.

"Yeah. Definite 'Star Power' needed there." Soul snorted and selected his signature red character. Black Star had sounded very thrilled to be the one chosen to wipe out the festering madness half the world away, but that didn't make his absence any less noticeable. These 'Boy's Nights' they had every other week had long become a constant in the weapon's life and he didn't like it when a wrench was thrown into them.

Besides it was way too quiet without the blue-haired assassin shouting and shoving his way through the night, Soul mused. Plus, it was a commonly known fact that the more people you had playing a video game, the more fun it was. With only the two of them, the game became little more the pressing buttons and buzzing around a track over and over…

"What're you playing?" A voice piped up from right next to Soul's right ear and made the boy curse, press pause automatically - earning a slight complaint from Kid - and wheel around to see who it was. Maka gave him a funny look and scooted backward a little pointedly. Soul took a deep breath.

"A game-"

"Did we wake you up?" Kid interrupted, finally noticing that a third person had joined their little party and climbing onto the couch to give Maka a worried look.

"No, I just couldn't sleep. You guys are actually being way quieter than usual." She said lightly. "But, I guess that's because Black Star isn't here."

"You guessed it." Soul sighed and contemplated commenting on her pink, duck printed pajamas, then decided against it. "Why can't you sleep? Did you hit the books a bit too hard this time?"

"No!" Maka denied, snorting at the very idea. "Just a bit worried about why Stein wants to see us before class next week…"

"Ah, chill out about it Maka. He probably just wants up to do another demo for Sid's newest batch of recruits."

"I don't know, Soul." Kid said, joining the conversation again. "Father would've just had me do it if that was needed, since you two ran double classes this week and I haven't even been in school. Maybe the professor wants to teach you some new techniques since he's been practicing with your father a lot lately?"

"Who knows…" Maka trialed off, then peered around Soul to look at the screen. "Which one of you is winning?"

"I am." Kid said, sliding back down onto the floor as Maka climbed into his spot and Soul turned back around. "It's not as fun with only two players though."

"So true." Soul groaned, glad that Kid said it and not him. Before he knew it, Maka had leaned over and grabbed the third controller with a grin.

"Well then, since I can't sleep, I might as well play a level."

"Round." Soul corrected disbelievingly.

"Shut up." Maka advised. Kid stifled a giggle.

"Are you really sure you want to play, Maka? You've never shown an interest before." The black-haired teen asked, amused. Said meister scoffed.

"I'm still not showing one. I'm just playing in hopes that it'll bore me enough to put me to sleep." She said haughtily. Soul smirked, shaking off his disbelief, that was a challenge if he'd ever heard one. This night had definitely just gotten more interesting.

"Oh really?" The weapon grinned, opening the game's menu to send them back to the start and choosing the multiple players option. "We'll see about that, bookworm."

That comment earned him a glare, but Maka retained from bringing out her infamous book in favor of picking a green character and watching Soul and Kid pick theirs.

"Beginner's track?" Kid asked politely, but Maka shook her head.

"Pick the same one you guys were on earlier. It didn't look too hard."

"Are you sure?"

"Completely." Ooooh, she was asking for it now. Soul actually stuck his tongue out in anticipation as the game counted down till the race's start.

3

2

1-!

"What the fuck man!"

"Language Soul."

"Did you just friggen' _run straight into me_?"

"I might've." Maka blushed and looked at the opposite wall as Soul gawked at her and Kid snickered.

"'Might've'? You caused a ten-car pile up!"

"A _virtual_ one!"

"Same difference!" Soul face-palmed in exasperation and Kid managed to stop laughing long enough to ask:

"Do you even know how to steer, Maka?" The girl pinked for the second time in two minutes.

"Uh, it's these things over here right?" She said and pointed to the set of arrow-like buttons placed on one side of the controller hopefully.

"Actually, no. You use this to steer." He reached over and poked the little joystick on the other side of the controller that she'd previously been using to rest her thumb against - hence the ten-car pile up. "And the arrows to switch gears."

"There's different _gears_?"

"Oh _jeez_." Soul scoffed. "If you didn't know, you should've asked!"

"Well, I didn't think a simple-looking game like this would have so many different controls!" Maka huffed indignantly, gesturing to the foreign consol in her hand. Soul gasped dramatically.

"Simple! This is the best my monthly allowance from Shibusen could buy-"

"So that's where it goes."

"-I'll have you know!" Soul ignored her magnificently.

"Well, considering that, why don't we explain the controls then try again?" Kid broke in, raising a brow and trying to hold back his smile. This was really starting to feel like a T.V. show for some reason.

"Fine." The weapon and meister grumbled in unison. The next ten minutes were spent doing just that until Maka, and Soul, felt confident on releasing her on the _beginner's_ track.

Which she completed, in last place, then demanded to go through again and again. And again.

All in all: the night didn't turn out to be as quiet as Soul thought it would be and Maka learned a thing or two about the meaning of 'virtual road rage'.

The end.

**Yep. That's how it ends. **

**I'm really sorry I don't have anything better guys!**

**Thank you very much to xxWARxx, SakuandSyao-CLAMPGirlForever, waiting-for-you443, Hiezen Uchiha, blackbloodbaby, magnusrae, and Tricksterr for reviewing! And to those who alerted/favved! *bows***


	37. Theme 85: Spiral

Sometimes it's hard for me to find a reason- No, remember the reason, because I know that there was one. Once.

But, it was a long time ago - or maybe yesterday - _I don't know. _All I know is that I can't remember, which means I don't know, and it's cold because I'm sitting and I'm sitting on the stone. And there's those shadows over there - no. _They are not there_. That's what I meant, of course.

I still don't know.

The stone is cold and something inside me tells me to get up and walk over to the shadows (because there's a bed there and I know what a bed is and that it's warm even though I've never had one before) but I can't because the shadows _are not there_ and I don't even deserve a bed anyway. A black devil like me? In a bed that's so soft and warm and cushiony? Psshhh, it's so funny!

Hilarious.

So, I stay in the corner while my butt freezes and I'm wondering about this reason - that I have to find or remember or _something _like that - and I think of why it matters? Because what do I need a reason for? I'll find out when I find _it_. Remember. Whatever, I guess. So I clutch this pillow.

The pillow, my pillow, is cold too - because I am, oh so cold - but it's soft too. Soft like squishy soft stuff that bulges out all weird when I squeeze it and I know because I'm squeezing it right now because I stole it from a bed. My bed. In the shadows that aren't there, you know?

My blood is black.

I can't believe I haven't said that yet, even though I thought you should know. Like everybody knows. I mean, even the reason knows because I always go spouting it off, you know?

_Like an idiot._

Heeeyeaah, shut up. Shut. Up. I wonder if the bed knows I stole the pillow?

Probably not, because beds can't think _stupid_! It was as simple as tap tap tap, grab, slide, sneak awa-ay~ And then I had a pillow. My pillow? Nope, still the bed's even thought it doesn't even know the pillow's gone and I do. I know.

_No, you don't. _I don't? Whatever.

How the hell can a _reason_ know anything anyway? It's a thing isn't it? Like, like a… a noun, but the thing part. Not a person or a place, right?

No, no. My reason is something more! Not a thing, one of the other ones. My reason is perfect and special and she glows and makes me feel all red inside. Like a real person for a little - all red inside? I think the shadows are laughing at mee…

That's why I need a reason. So that the shadows won't even be there, because they'll be gone, vamoose, and poof! That's why they hate my reason and that's why I have to find her. It. Her.

And that's why I can't find the bed.

I'm sorry I took your pillow.

"Chrona?"

Oh. Yeah.

"M-Maka."

**I haven't written anything with Chrona for awhile. **

**I think my brain died halfway through this. Don't worry if it doesn't make sense, it wasn't supposed to. I wasn't going to upload it, but I don't have anything else and I think you guys deserve and update.**

**Thank you SakuandSyao-CLAMPGirlForever, waiting-for-you443, magnusrae, and xxWARxx for reviewing! And to the ones who alerted/favved! *bows***


	38. Theme 48: Childhood

One small finger poked the damp sand, pulling out before poking it again five inches to the right. Chrona put her arms around her knees for a moment, then added a frown and scooted over so that her shadow fell over the drawing. Like it had a face and it was just as unhappy as she was. Even though she wasn't frowning. Even though nobody around really cared.

A light breeze ruffled her soft, choppily cut bangs and brought with it the sounds of other kids playing. The sand box where she sat was far removed from the rest of the equipment, so she didn't have to deal with them, but she didn't know if that made it okay or not. Being alone.

"Hey."

The small girl blinked slowly and looked up lethargically, meeting the other toddler's brilliant red eyes for only an instant, before her own dark indigo ones were staring past him into empty space. He stepped a little to the right to meet her gaze again, frowning now. Chrona noticed idly that he had really, really sharp teeth. She wondered if she could deal with that or not. She'd never meet anyone with sharp teeth before…

"Are you playin' here?" He sounded impatient, like he'd already asked this, but Chrona couldn't even remember the last time she'd eaten or slept, let alone if he had or not. She finally took in what he'd said as he began to fidget.

"P-play?" She tilted her head to the side and allowed her gaze to float back down to the unhappy shadow. Was that playing?

"Yeah, 'cause I wanna make a sand-castle." She hadn't the faintest idea what a sand castle was, or whether she'd be able to deal with him making one near her, but he seemed to take her silence as confirmation and promptly settled down to her left, toting a bright blue plastic shovel and bucket, that she hadn't noticed before, with him.

He worked in silence for a few minutes and she contemplated her drawing, laying out her legs so that they were on either side of it, and half-wished he'd go away. Even though this was surprisingly easy to deal with…

"Hey, you drawed it wrong!" She flinched, she hadn't even noticed him stop and crawl over to her and now he was leaning over her, with their shoulders touching, and she _did not _know how to deal with that. He didn't even seem to notice her silent panic. He was now on all fours, almost in her lap, and his orange T-shirt clad back was effectively blocking her drawing from view. She could see him sticking out his tongue as he worked.

"There!" He rolled back and grinned, obviously proud, crashing into her side and finally settling into a cross-legged position, leaning against her. He stuck out a hand to show it off as she examined his work shakily.

The frown she'd drawn had been messily rubbed out, leaving little ripples of sand across the face and small half-hand prints at the edges. In its place was a big, wobbly goofy smile. Chrona stared at it and felt her mouth drop open. He leaned into her line of view with a toothy smile.

"Better, right?" She could only nod mutely, but that was enough to increase his satisfaction. He nodded self importantly and leaned back again. "Cool."

She turned to watch as he went back to the sand-castle, confused at the unfamiliar phrase. "Cool?"

He gaped in literal shock for long enough that she began to fidget, fearing that she'd said something incredibly stupid.

"You dunno what 'cool' is?" Then, oddly, he pulled a lightly gloating face. "My big brother told me it. It means that it's the best an' really awesome."

He scooted back over next to her and leaned in and cupped his hands around her ear sneakily. "Imma be e'en _cooler _than Wes when I grow up, though."

He seemed thoroughly pleased when he saw that Chrona was properly awed by this information.

"I-is your b-brother very cool?" He frowned slightly and dug a toe in the sand.

"Yeah, I guess so. He plays the violin an' Mom an' Dad are really, really proud'a him all the time." Chrona watched him dig and decided she didn't like him frowning. "Imma start piano lessons soon, though, so then they'll be proud of me jus' as much!"

He brightened considerably when she responded with a 'cool'.

"What about you? You got any brothers?" Chrona blanched and thought back to the last month, when she'd gotten her 'partner'. Did he count? He'd been sleeping this whole time because they'd just finished another week of resonance training and it always wore him out. For some reason, she didn't want to share this boy with Raganarok.

"No."

"Awww, well you got your mom an' dad all to yourself then, right?" Chrona shivered, she was beginning to expect that this boy had a completely different impression of his 'mom' than she did hers. Lady Medusa would never allow her to be that carefree.

As for her father, Chrona had never even thought about him. The and only time she'd ever scraped up the nerve to ask, Lady Medusa had ordered her never to speak of it again. So she hadn't.

"Soul." The women's voice startled them both and they stumbled quickly to their feet. Chrona took in the women before her nervously. Her snow white her was tied back and it matched her no-nonsense look to a point.

She was suddenly hyper-aware of her own threadbare, filthy black dress.

But, the women barely gave her a glance. Instead, she wrinkled her nose at the sand covering her son's shirt and caking on his jean shorts. He gave her a small, sheepish smile.

"Sorry, Mom." She sighed, but melted a little, gesturing for him to trot over so she could dust him off.

"Wes has been looking all over for you, Soul. You should know not to run off by now." The chastisement was half-hearted and sounded well-worn. She straitened as she finished.

"I was makin' a new friend!" The boy - Soul, Chrona thought - turned to give her the same sheepish grin he'd just given his parent. The women seemed to take Chrona in for the first time, she blinked and her expression softened a little more.

She walked over and crouched to be Chrona's level. "Hello, what's your name?"

"C-Chrona." The six-year-old managed to squeak, staring wide-eyed at the women's kind smile.

"My name is Rosaline Evans, nice to meet you. Thank you for playing with Soul today." Chrona could only nod mutely as the women stood again. She turned and went to take Soul's hand, but he shook his head.

"One sec." Chrona squeaked again when he ran back and tackle-hugged her. "Thanks for today Chrona! It was the coolest ever!"

He let go and smiled at her shell-shock face, before bounding back to his mother's side and allowing himself to be led away again with a tiny backward wave. Chrona had half-raised her hand to wave back when the voice above her made her freeze.

"Oh, did you make a new friend today?" Medusa smiled with false cheer at the retreating boy's back. Chrona started to tremble. "A weapon's soul, strong too. Pity. He would've made a good subject as well…"

She whirled around suddenly and strode off, leaving Chrona trotting to catch up. "Our old residence is unusable now because of… circumstances. So, we will be leaving Death City for the time being."

Chrona couldn't help the coursing relief that pulsed through her, starting her heart again double, and dared to tune her 'mother' out. If they were leaving, then Lady Medusa would leave Soul alone. He would be safe.

She let out a small whimper of happiness. She didn't want him to get hurt.

Not ever.

**Irony much? 'Twas cute though, yes? **

**Thanks to xxWARxx, waiting-for-you443, blackbloodbaby, and magnusrae for reviewing! And to those who alerted/favved! *bows***


	39. Theme 56: Danger Ahead

"Is that even legal?" The, light and slightly strained tone was nearly over powered in the raging crowd of carnival-goers around them, but Stein - who'd always prided himself on his observation powers - heard it anyway. He, in response, promptly turned his attention from his partner - who was competing with B.J. to see who could chug their soda faster and simultaneously eat three hotdogs each whilst Kami looked on with a faint aura of horror - to Marie on his other side. She looked subdued - and slightly green - as she gave the ride's sign a stricken look.

"Wubz dot weegul?" Spirit asked with his mouth full and cleared Stein of the need to, while Kami face-palmed and a solemn Azusa helped Sid to the nearest trashcan in the background.

"Zero to sixty in two seconds, doesn't that seem a bit… much?" Stein admired the way Marie's complexion got even greener as she spoke whilst Spirit managed to choke down his mouthful and slung an arm across her shoulders jovially.

"Naaah! That's the whole fun of it!"

"I don't know…"

"Don't be a stick in the mud!" This continued, along with vomiting sounds from over to the right as Stein examined the ride ahead of him curiously and found that it did, in fact, accelerate from zero to sixty in less than three seconds. An experience that would apparently 'knock your socks off' by the looks of things.

"But wouldn't it hurt or something at that speed?" To his surprise, Marie turned her watery gold eye on Stein himself for an answer.

"It may knock your socks off," He observed, "but other than that and slight motion sickness, I see no harm."

She breathed a sigh of relief for a moment-

"…or the rails might break and we'll all plunge to our deaths at sixty miles an hour toward the ground below."

-before Azusa's words made her cut it in half with a gasp of terror. Azusa just pushed up her glasses, oblivious.

"There is always a chance of that you know. Plus the fact that the electricity could go out during the ride and we could all be stuck hundreds of feet in the air for who knows how long-"

"That's enough, thank you." Kami cut in, rubbing her temples with her green eyes closed. Marie seemed to have gone into a standing coma. Stein idly pushed her foreword as the line advanced and felt a flash of pride at the fact that he wasn't the one to send Marie into the freeze-up this time.

As Kami told Azusa exactly how Marie'd gotten like that and why the younger student shouldn't say some things at certain times, while Spirit added in his own opinions and everyone collectively decided to worry about B.J.'s obvious absence later, Stein decided to state the obvious.

"Your scared."

An almost imperceptible nod.

"Why?"

A head-jerk toward the Godzilla Coaster.

"Because it might break, or because you believe it will?"

She actually looked at him now, breaking her frozen stance. "Both?"

"Is the roller coaster very old?"

"No…"

"Did they die?" He stuck a pale finger in the direction of a few of their fellow D.W.M.A who were exciting the ride, all of them out of breath and apparently having newly bad hair days, but unhurt otherwise.

"No… but-"

"Do you weight more than any of them?" They both ignored Kami's yell, the sound of a hand hitting bone, and Spirit's load whining in the background.

"-_what_?"

"Is your weight, combined with that of mine enough to break a bar of steel four inches thick?"

"Are you offering to sit with me on this ride?"

"Are you saying yes?"

"Hmmm," Marie, being the good girlfriend she was, checked around once for B.J. before she fixed Stein with a soft glare. "You better get ready for me to break your hand. I hate roller coasters."

"It's only sixty miles per hour…"

Regardless, Spirit wasn't the only one going to the hospital for bone fracture soon afterward.

**Ha! And you guys thought I'd forgotten about this! **

…**Well I did. But, that was only depression caused by the fact that I only got two reviews last time. I don't know why but it hit me extra hard this time. I seriously considered giving this story up, because it's usually just a headache/heart attack for me to update and if only two people like it enough to review; what's the point?**

**But, I got over it so whatever.**

**Thank you very much to blackbloodbaby and magnusrae for reviewing! And to the ones who reviewed/favved! *bows***

**I barely proofread this and I wrote it in about a half-hour. Please excuse any mistakes.**


	40. Theme 37: Eyes

"Okay try again."

_Whump!_

"No, you're still off. Straighten your legs and keep them rigid."

_Whump! _

"Better. Use your momentum like I showed you."

_Whump!_

"A true assassin is never lax."

_Whump!_

"Remember, even the slightest relaxation could mean death if you miss a target even once…"

The rest of the lecture faded out of the young boy's ears into the steady rhythm of his leg hitting the dummy in front of him. Really, it was amazing that he'd paid attention that long, (the boy felt a puff of pride, that was only half due to the perfect kick he'd just executed, as he thought about it.) since Nygus had suggested to Sid just yesterday that he might be aten- attention difici-ut or something like that. Sid said it was just because he was a kid and kid's were like that.

Black Star didn't honestly care either way, but he preferred Sid's explanation, because being difici-ut in something didn't sound very god-like at _all. _And speaking of Sid…

"Black Star! Are you even paying attention to me?" The dark-skinned teen demanded with a frown.

"A'course I am!" Black Star evaded, or at least tried to. "A god always-"

"What are the three laws an assassin always follows?" Sid interrupted as if Black Star hadn't even spoken. Oh, right. No personal talk during training. The boy had forgotten.

"Uhm.. Blend into the dark around ya'… wait for th' target to let his guard down… don't breath-"

"You _have_ to breath, Black Star." Sid sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with one hand. "You must _erase_ your breathing with small, inaudible breaths so that your target is not alerted to your presence."

"That's what I meant." Black Star insisted, sticking out a bottom lip that wobbled a little, widening his blue-green eyes. Instantly, the brief hardness in Sid's brown eyes melted like a chocolate bar in the sun.

"It's okay, knowing you, you'll have it by next week." Apparently, pouting made the no-personal-talk-during-training-rule null and void. Black Star would have to remember that!

"You mean tomorrow!"

"Yeah, yeah, same thing you told me yesterday. Now, let's try that kick again, shall we?"

**Hey I'm alive! Still idea-less. I wrote this because I NEEDED something to post. Sorry it's not longer!**

**Thank you Kountry101 and magnusrae for reviewing! And to those who alerted/favved! *bows***


	41. Theme 47: Creation

Fingers trialed their slow way over smooth, lightly tanned skin over and over, feeling the warmth of it and the growing curve that it formed around. The touch was cold, probing, and inquisitive - confident as it always was, but even this steady hand had to pause with unbidden wonder when an answering kick came from somewhere below. _Inside _her.

Well of course, that is what being pregnant meant. She knew that, yet still calculating golden eyes widened and blinked as she felt the life wriggle around inside her like it had a mind of it's own. Which it _didn't_. She knew that by the two baby books she'd been 'given' by some people in that last city. Children didn't start making decisions of their own until they were at least of toddler age, certainly not while they still counted as a fetus.

But still, the baby - _fetus_, she corrected - turned around, lightly testing their new legs or arms out against the skin beneath her hand. Snuggled, warm and safe from the world… She snorted that thought away and pointed her teenage eyes at the bare stone walls around her with an adult's cold intellect. There was no such thing as warm and safe in this world.

That is why, she thought as she pulled herself to her bare feet and her hood over her head in the same motion, the child was necessary. Not as something to be loved, no. An experiment - a chance at the greatness she, not her sisters, should have gotten in the first place.

A festering, proud glare took over her young features then, wiping away any of the wonder of creation that might've lingered, and she looked out the window with her head held high. Her short blond braid swayed in the cold wind, but she refused to shiver and rested her hand on her stomach once again, no longer inquisitive, but firm. Possessive.

The stage had yet to be set, but plans were in motion and soon, very soon, there'd be a force out there for the Kishin, Shibusen, even Shinigami himself, would have to contend with. She smiled, a grim snake-like twist of her mouth.

…

..

.

"_I love you, Chrona."_

**Hey, did you know that Medusa was just a teenager when she had Chrona? (Assuming she's still in her lower thirties - 30-33 - and Chrona is older than 14) I just thought about it today. Weird. Oh yeah, and if you haven't read the manga, that last sentence will kinda really lose it's impact hehehe.**

**Thank you The Illusionist's Wings04, SakuandSyao-CLAMPGirlForever, and DeathsDragon very much for reviewing! And to those who alerted/favved! *bows* **

**p.s. If any of you have any ideas, please drop me a message or put it in a review! I'll update sooner! (maybe) **


	42. Theme 90: Triangle

"Yeah, yeah… _Sorry, _girl. Jeez, it was just a joke…" Maka and Chrona both flinched in unison as the screeching voice on the other end became loud enough that they could hear it across the room. Soul, on the other hand, jerked and held the phone away, rubbing one ear angrily.

"Eww, Soul, don't point it over here." Maka wrinkled her nose and held up a magazine as a shield, while Chrona nodded and hid behind the shorter girl. Yelling made him nervous. "Hang up or something."

"I _can't_. She is my girlfriend, Maka." The teen didn't seem very happy about that fact, though, as he glared at the phone.

"Break up with her." Maka replied flippantly and laid back down abruptly, causing Chrona to topple on top of her. She turned a page in the, now open, magazine to show how much she didn't care as she did so, an effect that was slightly put off by her adorable pink-flannel pajamas and the confused, similarly dressed in navy, boy still sprawled over her back with his head resting on hers.

"It isn't that easy." Soul growled, spinning in the desk chair that he'd invaded and hadn't left since he'd arrived hours ago. Chrona looked between the two, craning down his nose at Maka with difficulty.

"Why not?" Soul stopped spinning and suddenly looked nervous. Explaining 'complications' to Chrona was like explaining the birds and the bees to a five year old. He'd never get it and 'I'll tell you when you're a big kid' wasn't gonna cut it seeing as the thin, pink-haired teen was _older_ than him by more than a year_._

"I don't think you'd be able to deal with my explanation." Soul chickened out spectacularly with a straight face.

"O-okay."

Maka snorted. "Isn't it about time you were getting back to _her_," She looked pointedly at the blaring phone Soul had set on the wooden desk, "anyway? That's probably why she's so pissed."

Soul suddenly looked pleading, in an adorable, white puppy-dog sort of way. "Can I stay the night?"

Maka frowned coldly and Chrona's neck started to hurt from looking back and forth so often. "No, this is my and Chrona's house. Plus, there's only one bed and you've gotta get back to _sweetums_." Chrona didn't know that a word could be said with so much venom.

Soul quickly changed from his puppy-dog, to innocent-hot-guy pleading face. "I don't mind there only being one bed-"

Chrona scrambled out of the way post haste as Maka promptly got up and kicked him out via the open window, blushing furiously. "Goodnight Soul!"

"Remember to call later." Chrona waved down into the bushes below kindly, dropping his phone for him and smiling when he waved back, before closing the window.

Maka was plopping down on the bed, after turning off the lights, when he turned back around. She lay down and stared at the ceiling as he settled under the comforter, but flopped over and snuggled against his thin chest as soon as he had.

"I hate her."

"M-me too." Maka pressed her face into his shirt and he did the same into her hair, blinking.

"But, he still loves us right?" They both looked up, suddenly, as the phone held loosely in Chrona's hand vibrated insistently. The simple message, '_Hey, miss you guyz already :)_' Filled the screen when Maka took the device and flipped it open.

"Yeah, I-I think he does."

**I wrote this a really long time ago and it's actually 5 pages longer, but I don't think I'll ever finish it and this was the best place to cut it off. *sigh.***

**Okay, I know that my updates have been getting further and further apart (not to mention getting shorter and shorter as well) and I have a reason for this. Simply, I've really gotten away from this fandom in the almost-year that I've been writing this story. I really underestimated the amount of energy it'd take to get me through a 100 chapter story. I also overestimated the amount of commitment to it I'd have. The result is that this story has become more of a chore to me than anything else.**

**The conclusion to this that I've drawn is that I need to end it while I'm ahead. This doesn't mean I'll be ending it at this chapter by any means! That'd be too soon. But, I have decided to end the story at 50 chapters instead of 100, leaving me only 8 more chapters to fill.**

**Now, you all know that this is a story fueled by prompts. So, I'm giving you guys the choice in the last prompts I should use! The list is on my profile and it is first-come-first-serve, so feel free to put them in! Thank you for sticking with me as long as you all have and I hope that you'll stay with me till the coming end! **

**Happy Thanksgiving to you who celebrate it!**

**And a warm thank you to SakuandSyao-CLAMPGirlForever, magnusrae, and waiting-for-you443 for reviewing! And to the ones who alerted/favved! *bows***


	43. Theme 89: Through the Fire

It was summer in Brooklyn; or at least getting close, the beads of sweat running down Liz's tank-topped back told her. She shivered anyway. It was always freezing in these back alleyways, whatever the season.

"God, ya don't even know how to turn on a lighter, Thompson? What kind'a puss are ya?"

"You shut your mouth, Futz, or I'll shut it for you." She snapped in return, turning her attention from the cheap geared lighter in her hand. Back against the wall behind her, Patti let out a slightly manic little giggle and Futz took a small step back.

"Yeah, right. You mean you'll get yer sister to do it for ya." Futz answered, shooting a leer back behind Liz that made her hair stand on end, but he fell silent anyway and gave her an ugly glare. Liz just shrugged it off, she'd seen worse before, and looked back down to flick a tiny flame into life from the dirty lighter.

"Now ya just gotta light it-"

"Jeez, I _know_. Your just here to sell me the cigarettes if I like 'em, Futz. I don't need any fucking instruction." Liz snarled, bringing her other hand up to light the small white stick it held.

"Big words for such a pretty face, you better watch out for that." Futz said darkly, watching her take a drag and seeming disappointed when she didn't break into a cough. "So?"

"So, what?" Liz answered cattily, holding the cigarette between her lips now and hating the taste of it on her tongue. Futz started to bristle but, as if on queue, Patti started to mutter a little blood-and-guts lullaby that successfully cowed him.

"So do you want them or not?" He growled instead, shooting a glace at the alley's entrance. "I got places to be, Thompson."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll take them. First round's free, right?" Liz asked while Patti let out another low hum that sent Futz another unwilling step back.

"You know it is." He stuck one hand in his long tattered jacket, then pulled out a battered pack of Death Stickz that he immediately tossed at her, sealing the deal. "You're lucky you decided quick, I was three seconds from out of here." He grinned then and raked his eyes down her form. "Unless ya want me to stay awhile longer, that is. I do have a couple more things in my pockets that you might like to sample."

Liz resisted curling her lip and instead forced a sickly sweet smile onto her face. "Oh I don't think so, Futz. I don't want to keep you from making your nightly appointment with that eight-pager you keep under the dumpster on Avenue Street." Futz's mouth dropped open in shock at that and Liz gave him a little triumphant wave. "Now, I'd get off our territory before Patti decides she's getting bored with that new coloring book and I have to do something about it."

Futz looked like he wanted to say more, but he choose instead to turn and stomp towards the alley's opening, mouth twisted into an ugly scowl. However, he paused at the street.

"Someday, you're gonna eat those words, Thompson. Just you wait." With that he was gone, blending easily into the crowds of tourists and locals alike that wandered the streets. Liz watched him go, trying to push back the sense of foreboding she felt at his obvious threat.

There wasn't a point in worrying, she comforted herself mentally. Futz was just a cheap peddler without a home or gang to call his own. He was _far_ down the latter compared to the, increasingly notorious, Thompson Sisters, so there was obviously no weight to his threats. Still, Liz figured it might be safer to move further into their territory for a couple of months, just to be sure.

"Hey, sis?" Patti's voice brought her abruptly back to earth. "I'm hungry, do we got any food money?"

"Yeah, sure." Liz turned and met her sister's sparkly blue eyes and pudgy, dirty face with a smile. "You know what? Let's go try out that new café you saw yesterday-"

"The yellow one that looked like a giraffe?" Patti squealed, jumping to her feet.

"Yeah. We can make an adventure of it."

"Whoooo-hhhoooo!" Laughing at her sister's enthusiasm, Liz slipped the cigarette packet into her pocket and decided, just for tonight, to forget her budding plans of moving. Just for one night.

* * *

**Bah. Yeah, I suck. I know.**

**Well, this chapter's prompt is way passed simile and still loosely held in metaphor, I hope. **

**I'm closing the 'tell me what you want' thing, by the way, because I've already got my seven prompts. They are, ****Illusion, ****Fairy Tail, ****Drowning, ****Maka/Soul with a kid, ****Black Star/Maka, ****Jealous!Soul/Maka, a****nd Wes/Liz. ****I'm hoping to finish within next year. Hoping.**

**Thank you ImmortalDarkPassion, Tricksterr, MusicSoundsMySoul 14, waiting-for-you443, and Starlight-Ninja for reviewing! And to those who favved/alerted! *bows***

**Also, thanks for getting me to 150 reviews guys!**


	44. Theme 44: Liz And Wes

Liz is surprised and more than a little intrigued when she recognizes a shock of white hair moving through the crowd away from her, - because she's pretty sure Maka left the party ages ago and the girl definitely hadn't been alone when she had - so she follows it.

Sure enough, it's not Soul. Instead, tall, pale, and devilishly handsome greets her with an unfamiliar, un-sharp grin when she makes his acquaintance.

They introduce; She's interested, he's impressed.

"Death's personal weapon, really?"

"Yeah. Wouldn't have guessed by looking at me, huh?"

"Well now, I wouldn't say that…" Later she'll tell him to cut the crap, but for now it's kind of nice to lose herself in his flattery and deep, red eyes. His brother was never this charming, she thinks.

"Wanna dance?"

"It would be my pleasure."

* * *

**Oh my gosh I feel so terrible to be posting this little piece here now! I'm so sorry that I ignored this story for such a long time. There's a million excuses I could give you (including a death in the family) but I'm not going to. Just know that I_ will_ be finishing this story even if it is in just crappy drabbles and I _do_ appreciate all of the alerts it still has! And to that one person who requested Liz/Wes so long ago: Here you are!**

**Thank you MusicSoundsMySoul 14, CLAMPsFluffMeisterGirl, ImmortalDarkPassion, Starlight-Ninja, Tricksterr, and Star Fata for reviewing! And to all those who favorited/alerted! *Bows.***


	45. Theme 45: New Additions

"We don't have to do this, you know." Soul's voice is a mix of tired and reassuring and it drifts low, like a comforter over the room. His hand finds yours in the dark. "It's only a trial day, we could…" He swallows. "We could take her back. You know."

You _do_ know. It's a thought that's been inevitably wavering at the back of your mind since you'd arrived home at exactly 9:17 a.m., over twelve hours ago. It was a blessing, a curse, and you'd spurned it. You'd wished it wasn't a choice then, and you still do now. You wish you were sure.

Soul shifts next to you, incredibly careful of the bundle cradled next to him and your heart clenches. You know how much he wants this, how good he'd be at it too, yet he still puts you first like he always has. It's your responsibility and you hate it. "I'm scared."

The words have pushed themselves out of your mouth before you'd even allowed yourself to think them, but they're more than true. You _are_ scared. You're damn terrified of not being good at this, of being too hard or too inexperienced or just _wrong_. You squeeze your eyes shut, feeling the wet spilling under them like an admonition.

"Me too." Soul agrees, rumbling. He cradles you as best he can and you sniffle. You aren't surprised at his admission. You've had this same conversation over dozens of nights, the only difference being that there are three beings sharing your bed tonight.

"What if I don't do well? What if I drop her or forget to watch her? What if I lose her? What if…" You choke. "What if we're not ready, Soul?"

You keep your eyes shut, curled to him and he strokes your hair, quiet in that thoughtful way he has. He doesn't tell you that you're being stupid; He's gained more tack that that in the years, but he does let out a quiet snort. "Maka, I've never seen you drop anything in your life, you've got eyes like a hawk, and you never forget a thing." His words wash over you like a wave and you let them. "Whenever you put your mind to something, you're unstoppable, and I've never seen your put you mind to anything more than this. Her. Now look."

You do, and his eyes are warm on yours for a moment, before they fall downwards, leading you to the little blanket wrapped bundle that you've been protecting since she finally fell asleep. Almost unwillingly, your hand comes up and her tiny head fits into the curve of your palm perfectly, like she was really yours and, in some small part of yourself, you're willing to admit that she already kind of is.

"We have to decide before morning." Soul prompts, gentle as always, but you can see how much he wants this and it strengthens you a bit.

"Can we call and ask for one more day?" You say finally watching a tiny thumb disappear into a little, drooling mouth. You know Soul's still waiting, and you add. "Then maybe one more after that?"

He scoffs then and chuckles once, softer than you've ever heard him.

"Yeah, sure, Maka."

* * *

**This is exploring the idea of what would happen if Maka and Soul found out she couldn't have kids and adopted!**

**I actually wrote this a long time ago and I feel bad for putting off uploading it for so long. Also: This story will make it to the end, by this I swear. Thank you to MusicSoundsMySoul 14, 2random4words, DragonRiders4ever77, and Starlight-Ninja for reviewing! And to all to favved/alerted! *Bows.* **

**This is a prompt fill for Maka and Soul with a baby submitted by MusicSoundsMySoul 14!**


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